Category : Featured

One of the Rudin Family’s original tenants at 80 Pine Street, which opened over a half-century ago, is continuing to grow its footprint at the downtown property. 80 Pine Street Law firm tenant Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP has leased an additional 13,500 s/f comprising the entire 26th floor at the 38-story, 993,000 s/f office tower. The long-term lease brings the firm’s total presence in the building to approximately 250,000 s/f spanning 9 floors.

Robert (Bob) Friedland, founder and chairman of NAI Friedland, today announced the merger of NAI Friedland, a real estate sales, leasing and development company, with Benson Commercial Realty of Tarrytown, NY, and Greenwich, CT. Scott H. Benson will take the helm of the merged company, which will keep the name NAI Friedland. Benson will assume responsibility for brokerage operations, business development, and expansion into new markets. The merger combines two established, privately held commercial real estate firms that have been in business for a combined 65-plus years.

Secaucus, NJ-based Hartz Mountain Industries, which began acquiring and constructing a national portfolio of luxury apartments in 2010 that has reached close to 3,000 units, has expanded to the West Coast by purchasing Alto Apartments, a 184-unit residential tower in the Belltown section of Seattle, WA. Emanuel Stern, president and chief operating officer for Hartz Mountain, said that while the firm’s strategy for increasing its residential asset class focuses on newly constructed developments in fast-growing urban areas on the East Coast, it is a goal to continue to survey the national markets for other quality residential acquisitions. He said, “Alto Apartments offered Hartz an exciting opportunity that we could not pass up along with making it a meaningful acquisition in a market that is both flourishing and still nowhere near its full potential.”

The first half of 2013 has seen an unusual number of large office subleases, Peter Turchin, CBRE executive vice president, told reporters at the firm’s second quarter briefing last week. Among 10 deals over 40,000 s/f that closed in the first two quarters are the Sumitomo Corporation’s sublease of 98,454 s/f at 300 Madison from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce; Indeed subleased 49,536 s/f at 125 West 55th from MacQuarie Equities; and there were three deals in AXA Financial’s space in 1290 Avenue of the Americas, including a 148,421 s/f sublease by Morgan Stanley.

A few years ago, Michael J. Greenwald, amateur actor and a principal at Friedman LLP, auditioned for a small part in an independent film about the Enron crisis. He might have thought he was a good fit for the role, but the casting team didn’t agree. “They told me I wasn’t believable as an accountant,” he said. This might come as a surprise to Greenwald’s many clients in the real estate industry — he’s been reviewing their taxes and advising on transactions for over 30 years.