News
OOZING OPTIMISM
January 21, 2011
| Last night was testament to the strength and unity of the market, said REBNY chair (and CBRE Tri-State CEO) Mary Ann Tighe to the2,000 real estate execs who braved the threat of snow to attendREBNY’s 115th annual banquet at the New York Hilton, the most anticipated winter event behind the Golden Globes and Super Bowl. |
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| It took us nine tries to get most of the room in the shot—and this isn’t everyone! The joint was overrun with positive thinkers, a far cry from the past two years. Among the public officials who attended:Mayor Mike, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Sen. Dean Skelos, Manhattan Borough prez Scott Stringer, City Council speaker Christine Quinn, attorney general Eric Schneiderman, public advocate Bill De Blasio, Sect. to Gov. Steve Cohen, deputy mayors Bob Steel andStephen Goldsmith, Port Authority exec director Chris Ward, and MTA chair Jay Walder. |
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| Mary Ann with Newmark Knight Frank chairman Jeff Gural, who won this year’s Harry B. Helmsley Distinguished New Yorker Award. Other award winners included Himmel+Meringoff Properties partner Leslie Wohlman Himmel (Bernard H. Mendik Lifetime Leadership in Real Estate Award), The Singer and Bassuk Org chair Andrew Singer(Louis Smadbeck Broker Recognition Award), Cushman & Wakefield executive managing director Frank Freda (George M. Brooker Management Executive of the Year Award), Stroock real estate chairman Leonard Boxer (Kenneth R. Gerrety Humanitarian Award), and Brause Realty prez David Brause (Young Real Estate Man of the Year Award). |
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| Leslie Wohlman Himmel, son David Himmel, and DeWitt Tishman Architects partner Erica Tishman. |
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| David Brause, Ogden CAP Properties principal Abby Elbaum, Eastern Consolidated’s Inbal Himelblau, Eastern Consolidated vice chairman Brian Ezratty, and Rubenstein Associates’ Melanie Keenan. |
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| The Gotham Org chair Joel Picket and Cushman & Wakefield chair of global brokerage Bruce Mosler. Former C&W prez and CEO Bruce was named recently to his new position, partnering with former CEO Arthur Mirante to create a brokerage services team in NY that includes David Rosenbloom and others. In the past nine months, Bruce and Arthur completed more than 2M SF of office leasing assignments. And Bruce tells us he’s working on a lot of exciting space in the Cohen Brothers Realty portfolio right now, including623 Fifth Ave and 135 E 57th St. |
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| Taconic Investment Partners co-CEO Charles Bendit looks chipper probably because his firm (along with New York State Common Retirement Fund and Jamestown) recently sold the gargantuan 111 Eighth Ave to Google for $1.8B. Charles (left, with L&L Holding Co’sDavid Levinson, Cushman & Wakefield branch manager Suzy Reingold, and Fried Frank Partner Jonathan Mechanic) tells us Taconic’s working on a few big deals at the Bronx’s BankNote Building. Expect a Q1 full of transactions that weren’t able to close by year’s end, Suzy adds. |
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| Who’s that guy on the left? It’s a new year and a new look for freshly shorn Vornado CEO Mike Fascitelli, who’s been a month free of his trademark mustache. He with Newmark Knight Frank vice chair Neil Goldmacher. |
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| APF Properties principals Berndt Perl and Kenneth Aschendorf, Newmark Knight Frank Retail principal Amira Yunis, The Feil Org director of leasing Ari Benmosché, and Newmark CEO Barry Gosin. Amira just brokered Tommy Bahama’s 12-year, 8,500 SFlease at The Feil Org’s 551 Fifth Ave (aka the art-deco Fred F. French Building), which will be the retailer’s first Manhattan store. |
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| JLL New York prez Peter Riguardi and Mitch Konsker with The Carlyle Group managing director Andrew Chung. This was Mitch’sfirst photo op as a Jones Lang LaSallean, and says his new firm “feels like family” to him and his team. |
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| CBRE’s Shelly Cohen with The Downtown Alliance prez Liz Bergerand Nicole LaRusso. There’s a very strong pipeline for Lower Manhattan, says Shelly, who’s the senior managing director of the firm’s Downtown office. Full-year leasing for the submarket was3.25M SF, which outpaced ‘09’s 2.89M SF, the highest level since ’07. The Downtown Alliance just celebrated the first anniversary ofThe Hive at 55, its co-working facility at 55 Broad St where freelancers, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and startups collaborate and share resources. |
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| And Downtown will soon get another mega-lease—Trinity Real Estate president Jason Pizer (left, with Newmark's Brian Waterman andLance Korman) tells us he’s working on a 100k SF deal at One Hudson Square, and has paper trading on deals that will bring 205 Hudson St to 100% occupancy. The transactions are “not fully cooked,” so he couldn’t feed us any juicy details yet. |
