Category : Featured

Deals & DealmakersFeatured

Sitt puts on his poker face for retail roulette

REW Staff
by REW Staff1120
By Liana GreyDeveloper Joe Sitt compares site selection to spinning a roulette wheel. “If opportunity isn’t there, I move on,” he told an audience of brokers and landlords, who gathered in a vacant storefront at 1095 Sixth Avenue to hear the latest market trends. A year and a half ago, Sitt took a gamble on London and purchased Burlington Arcade, a historic shopping center, when the price seemed right. “Suddenly, London became very expensive,” he said during the annual Bisnow Retail Summit last Thursday. So Sitt moved on to 693 Fifth Avenue in New York, which he also believed to be undervalued at the time, and is now active in San Francisco, Chicago, and Dallas.
FeaturedResidential

Uma Thurman’s townhouse sells for $12 million

REW Staff
by REW Staff1930
By Roland LiActress Uma Thurman's townhouse at 18 West 9th Street has closed for $12 million, according to city records. The buyer was a trust connected with the Darien, Conn.-based perfume company Parfum de Coeur. Officials at Parfum de Coeur weren't immediately available to comment. The home went into contract in February and had an asking price of $14.2 million.
Deals & DealmakersFeatured

Philip Habib & Associates takes 10,000 s/f at 102 Madison

REW Staff
by REW Staff1266
By Daniel GeigerPhilip Habib & Associates, a civil and construction engineering firm, has taken a roughly 10,000 s/f lease at 102 Madison Avenue. The firm will lease the building’s entire 11th floor in a 10-year deal with rents that start in the low $30s per s/f. The company, which is relocating from 226 West 26th Street, will receive about $20 per s/f in work to outfit the space with an office installation.
FeaturedResidential

Rents increase as landlord concessions fade

REW Staff
by REW Staff2134
By Roland LiThe Manhattan rental market saw rents climb and landlord concessions decrease in the first quarter, compared to the previous year, according to reports released on Thursday from Prudential Douglas Elliman and Citi Habitats. Citi Habitats, which based its data on the firm’s closed transactions in the first quarter, reported an average rent increase of 12% compared to the first quarter of 2010. The vacancy rate was 1.08% in the first quarter, down from 1.45% in 2010. In March, the brokerage reported a 0.99% vacancy rate, the first time the figure had dropped below 1% since July 2010.
Deals & DealmakersFeatured

Glen Kunofsky of Marcus & Millichap takes the uncertainty out of investment

REW Staff
by REW Staff1437
By Roland Li Glen Kunofsky has always been careful. When the Rockland County, New York native attended Arizona State University, he began buying single family homes and renting them out, eventually expanding to multifamily properties. Kunofsky was interested in steady returns, rather than speculation, and deliberately calculated expenses. While working in Arizona from 1989 to 2000, he avoided risky deals that relied on future market performance, preferring the steadiness of immediate profit.
Deals & DealmakersFeatured

Anatomy of a deal: United Nations Population Fund’s 130,000 s/f lease at 605 Third Avenue

REW Staff
by REW Staff1603
By Daniel GeigerHere, we feature a deal submitted by Andrew Roos, vice chairman of Colliers International and the firm’s top-producing broker last year. Roos structured a complex lease at 605 Third Avenue last year for the United Nations Population Fund, which would involve two subleases and the approval of five different entities.
Introducing MiMa, Manhattan’s newest big personality
FeaturedResidential

Introducing MiMa, Manhattan’s newest big personality

REW Staff
by REW Staff1502
By Roslyn LoMany famed pop culture references take place in Times Square, from the New Year’s Eve ball drop, Broadway musicals, the yellow taxi cabs, and even the “Naked Cowboy.” The area has become iconic for the sheer amount of entertainment packed into a several blocks. Just two short avenues west is an area most tourists don’t venture out to, as the silver screen confines all of NYC activity to Broadway and 42nd.
Landmarks Preservation Commission approves N.Y.U. landscaping plan
Construction & DesignFeatured

Landmarks Preservation Commission approves N.Y.U. landscaping plan

REW Staff
by REW Staff1394
By Roland LiThe Landmarks Preservation Commission approved on Tuesday New York University’s application for landscaping changes to the landmarked Silver Towers site, clearing the first hurdle for the school’s four-building expansion plan. “This is an appropriate restoration," said Robert Tierney, chairman of the L.P.C., who added that the modifications were modest and they would strengthen the landmarked site. Six L.P.C. commissioners unanimously voted in favor of the changes.
FeaturedResidential

The kids are all right

REW Staff
by REW Staff1152
By Liana GreyAt the Sheffield, a condominium tower near Columbus Circle, broker Stephanie Mastronardi once joked that showing around families was the easiest part of the job: children would practically sell apartments for her, begging mom and dad to buy, say, the model unit decorated with the butterfly sculpture and dog-shaped lamp. That was back in October, when the building’s amenity spaces were still under construction. Had prospective buyers been able to tour the playroom, with its polka-dot patterned floor and seating area shaped like a giant clock, multi-bedroom units might have disappeared from the market especially quickly.