Category : Featured

James Wacht, president of both Sierra Real Estate and Lee & Associates NYC, understands the value of patience. Sitting in his office on Madison Avenue, Wacht discussed the initial trials of his career in real estate. The early 90s placed a growing family in one hand and a struggling market in the other. Recognizing that even the best incoming talent will face obstacles like he did, Wacht shared the advice that he has given them as they embark on their journey.

Many wish for the newest gadget or hottest item during the holiday season. Unfortunately, most of the presents will not be nearly as nice as those the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) handed out to some of New Jersey’s top employers. According to a report from Cassidy Turley's New Jersey offices, the NJEDA, which is responsible for administering Grow NJ, one of the state’s incentives programs, doled out more than $1.4 billion in tax incentives to 71 companies in the past 12 months.

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank is expanding its downtown presence as the neighborhood ends the year on a leasing high note. With year-to-date leasing reaching 6.8 million square feet—a 42.5 percent increase year-over-year, Hal Stein, who leads NGKF's Lower Manhattan office, said, "Lower Manhattan is now a true destination versus simply being the low-price alternative.” NGKF has inked a 10-year-lease on the 29th floor of Brookfield’s One Liberty Plaza, in a relocation to the Class A building it also represents.

A public-private partnership has joined forced to transform a Mitchell-Lama development on Staten Island into a $75 million affordable showpiece. The deal to rehab the Arlington Terrace apartments is part of Mayor Bill de Blasio's Housing New York plan. New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Vicki Been and New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC) President Gary Rodney joined Preservation Development Partners — a joint venture of developers Francine Kellman, Brian Raddock, Joseph Ferrara, Brandon Baron and Donald Capoccia — to announce the acquisition and planned rehabilitation of the apartments, to be re-named North Shore Plaza.

Broad Street Development (BSD) has acquired 298 Mulberry Street and 304 Mulberry Street, two multi-family buildings with 182 apartments, with investment partner Crow Holdings, a national real estate investment fund. The partnership acquired the two-property residential portfolio for $178.5 million from GID Investment Advisors LLC. This acquisition comes on the heels of BSD’s success at its 215 Sullivan Street condominium project nearby.

Margaret Streicker Porres has made a habit of beating the odds. As a graduate student at Columbia, she claims to have been the first person to receive Masters degrees in architecture and real estate development simultaneously. She converted her first property while she was still in school. And she has found considerable success as a female entrepreneur in a field that is about as hospitable to women as the Siberian timber industry.

Former Trinity executive turned city hall commissioner Carl Weisbrod warned New York developers to brace themselves for new rules come 2015. “We’ll be announcing very early next year, a mandatory inclusionary housing program,” Weisbrod told guests at B’nai B’rith’s December luncheon. The program will take the current affordable housing incentives available to developers in mid-density or high density residential districts and upgrade them to concrete guidelines.