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Girl Power!

New York
Girl Power!
Lower East Side Girls Club Center for Community Groundbreaking
Stuart Ransom
Why was Rosario Dawson in the Lower East Side on Friday donning a pink hard hat and shovel? Not to film a movie, but to move some dirt. The actress (second from right) joined Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the NYC Housing Development Corp., financer the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, City and State officials, Lower East Side Girls Club founder Lyn Pentecost, developer The Dermot Co. principal Stephen Benjamin, and nearly a dozen girls to break ground on the Lower East Side Girls Club Center for Community, the first-ever Girls Club facility in the city. In addition to the 30k SF center, the mixed-use property will include 39 affordable residential rental units, 38 market-rate units, community facilities, and retail space. The projects will be completed in mid-'12.
Sales Transactions Vornado Realty Trust purchased 510 Fifth Ave. for $58M. Norman Bobrow & Co.'s Norman Bobrow repped seller; J.W. Burke & Co.'s Jonathan Burke repped the buyer. ***

BABB LLC purchased the 130k SF 65 Willowbrook Blvd., an REO office asset in Wayne, NJ for an undisclosed price. Grubb & Ellis'Adam Silver, Wayne Kasbar, and Trevor Patterson represented the lender.

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Twin Monkey purchased 45-40 Vernon Blvd. in Long Island City from Gabby and Donald Rattner for an undisclosed price. The sale includes a 40k SF warehouse, a 26k SF warehouse, and 33k SF of land. Plans under consideration for the property include canoe and kayak rentals, as well as other water activities. The redeveloped property's options also include a gallery, retail space, a microbrewery, and a rooftop cafe and lounge. Grubb & Ellis' Jason Meister and Tranzon IPG's Joshua Olshin facilitated the property's disposition.

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Massey Knakal sold three properties: a six-story office building at 256 Fifth Ave. for $6.5M cash (brokers: John Ciraulo and Michael Azarian); a five-story townhouse at 318 W. 102nd St. for $3.7M(broker: Hall Oster); and a partially demolished brownstone at 100 Clark St. in Brooklyn Heights, which can be redeveloped into single or multifamily, for $1.3M cash (brokers: James Nelson and Stephen Palmese).

Lease Transactions

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street? Try 1900 Broadway. Sesame Workshop inked a long-term, 140k SF renewal at the tower. Newmark Knight Frank's Barry Gosin, Moshe Sukenik, and Robin Fisher repped the tenant alongside Sesame Workshop's Susan Kolar, while Lester Schwalb repped owner Ogden CAP Properties in-house.

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TMP Worldwide Advertising and Communications signed a new 10-year, seven-month, 37,404 SF lease at 125 Broad St. for its world HQ. CBRE's Gerry Miovski, Barry Finkelman, Andrea Funsten, and Christopher Mansfield repped the tenant, while CBRE also repped owner Mack-Cali.

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News America Inc. leased an additional 26,792 SF at 1185 Avenue of the Americas, increasing its commitment in the building to 165k SF. CBRE's Kenneth Rapp repped the tenant, while Howard Tenenbaum and Gary Rosen repped owner SL Green in-house.

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A grand slam for 36 Midland Ave. in Port Chester, NY: Pro Swing Baseball and Softball Center signed a 25k SF lease at the building for its second location. Goldschmidt & Associates' Gene Pepe Jr. repped the tenant, while CBRE's William Cuddy Jr. and Kevin Langtry repped the landlord.

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230 Park Ave. saw 23,600 SF worth of deals, including: PBS Real Estate's 8,044 SF renewal (tenant rep: John Brod, in-house);Allegiance Capital Corp.'s in-house relocation and expansion to 5,051 SF (tenant rep: JLL's Edward DiTolla and John Ryan); Young & Partners' 3,818 SF renewal and expansion; Absolute Plus Management's 2,400 SF renewal (tenant rep: Vicus Partners' Bert Rosenblatt); Satterlee Stephens Burke & Burke's 2,300 SF expansion (tenant rep: JLL's Martin Horner, Joseph Pollaci, and Drew Saunders); and Virtusa Corp.'s 2k SF lease (tenant rep: Studley's Bill Montanta). Monday Properties' Jordan Berger and CBRE's Paul Amrich repped owner Monday Properties.

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Hertz Herson & Co. inked a 15-year, 17,548 SF lease at 477 Madison Ave., where it will relocate from its 2 Park Ave. HQ in the spring. Studley's Dan Horowitz, Gary Kerper, and Jeff Peck repped the tenant, while Cassidy Turley's David Hoffman Jr. and Wendy Miller repped the owner, J.A.B. Madison Associates.

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Halstead has found its own new home, taking 17k SF at 499 Park Ave. for its flagship office. The new office, where it will move early spring '11, more than doubles the size of the firm's current East Side office space, which will close. The building owner is Hines.

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TPR Holdings inked a five-year, 5,133 SF lease at 950 Third Ave., expanding from its current 2,770 SF. It will relocate to a pre-built unit on the fourth floor early next year. Cushman & Wakefield's William Elder and Jared Horowitz repped the owner, an entity controlled by Naomi and Andre Altholz.

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Bradley & Parker signed a 12-year, 16k SF lease at 320 South Service Rd. in Syosset, Long Island, where it will move Q1 '11. Newmark Knight Frank's Scott Berfas and Michael Silver repped the tenant, while Rechler Equity Partners' Harry Stavro repped owner 320 Expressway Associates.

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Urban Homesteading Assistance Board signed an early 10-year lease renewal for 12,644 SF of space at 120 Wall St. Cassidy Turley's David Lebenstein and Debra Wollens repped the tenant, while owner 120 Wall Co./Silverstein Properties repped itself.

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Perceptive Pixel signed a six-year, 10k SF lease at 102 Madison Ave. for its HQ offices. Adams & Co.'s Alan Bonett repped the tenant, while Newmark Knight Frank's Michael Dreizen, Andy Udis, and Lee Ruth repped owner A. Ruth & Sons.

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Allied Aviation Services (which probably fueled your last plane) signed a seven-year, 9,750 SF lease at 462 Seventh Ave. Savitt Partners' Alicia Popper repped the tenant, while The Kaufman Org.'s Steven Kaufman and Barbara Raskob repped the owner.

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Krav Maga NYC signed a six-year, 5k SF lease at 25 W. 26th St. Murray Hill Properties' Esther Zar repped the tenant.

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Chop't Creative Salad Co. tossed together a 10-year, 3,750 SF lease at the New Gotham residential building, 525 W. 42nd St. The tenant was repped by Craig Hantgan, while Ripco Real Estate's Brad Cohen, Jason Pennington, and Patricia Garcia, along with Wilk Auslander's Jeffrey Samuels and Michael Sobel, repped owner The Gotham Org.

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Scottrade signed a long-term, 2,200 SF lease at 1392 Third Ave. Lansco's Brett Zelner and Sansone Group's Scott Savacool repped the tenant, while Robert K. Futterman & Associates' Ariel Schuster and Richard Gelber repped owner Third Avenue BT.

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Lovella Salon cut a 1,300 SF lease at 111-117 W. 72nd St., where it plans to open its second Manhattan location next month. Signature Partners' Mark Oleszek repped the tenant, while Robert K. Futterman & Associates' Mark Kapnick repped the owner, Sterling 117 West.

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GNC inked a 1,050 SF lease at 1755 Broadway, its 40th location in Manhattan. Robert K. Futterman & Associates' Ariel Schuster and Greg Covey repped the tenant, while Fran Del Gorio repped owner Resnick & Sons in-house.

Financing

Meridian Capital Group negotiated $67M in new mortgage financing, including: $16M placed on two multifamily buildings on Austin St., Flushing (arranged by Joseph Taub); $13M placed on a 172-unit multifamily building on Holland Ave., Bronx (arranged by Avi Weinstock and Chaim Tessler); $9M placed on an eight-story mixed-use building on Ludlow St. (arranged by Cary Pollack and Nicoletta Pagnotta); $7M placed on a 100-unit, mixed-use building on Fourth Ave., Brooklyn (arranged by Carol Shelby); and $5M on a 47-unit multifamily building on 45th Ave., Long Island City(arranged by Jeffrey Weinberg and Jack Adler).

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The NY office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler arranged a $44M refinancing for the retail condo at 599 Broadway. The firm's Evan Pariser and Todd Newman worked on behalf of ABC Management Corp. to secure the 10-year, fixed-rate loan with Prima Capital Advisors.

Construction & Development

Jonathan Rose Cos. and Malkin Properties broke ground on the $27M Metro Green Residences, a 50-unit mixed-income housing development located a block away from Metro North's Stamford station. It's the second green housing development by the team; the first phase, Metro Green Apartments, achieved LEED Gold for new construction. Upon completion, Metro Green, a mixed-use TOD, will consist of 238 mixed-income residential units and a 350k SF office tower. Construction is estimated to finish in '11.

Business

Cushman & Wakefield acquired the remaining 35% interest of its debt and equity finance subsidiary Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman. As part of the move, it restructured and expanded its New York capital markets group under the leadership of Steven Kohn, who will also continue in his role as president of C&WSG. In addition to Steven, the group will include the investment sales team of Helen Hwang, Nathaniel Rockett (who recently joined from JLL), and Karen Wiedenmann. Outside of NY, C&WSG will continue to be lead by Robert Stiles (West Coast), Richard Swartz(New England), Douglas Hercher (Southeast), and Mark Gordon(lodging group).

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JLL formed a strategic alliance with tax services firm Ryan to provide tax mitigation services to corporate real estate clients, offering a comprehensive review, recommendations, and appeal process to manage a corporation's real estate tax budget. The team annually reviews all owned and leased locations; updates and compares valuations to those imposed by taxing authorities; and supplements the review and appeal process with experts in the field.

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TitleVest announced the beta launch of the first digital library of thousands of New York co-op and condo offering plans, a centralized source for obtaining such plans. Each plan is keyword searchable, enabling the person reviewing the plan to instantly search for any phrase or topic, without searching through hundreds of document pages. Digital versions of the offering plans and amendments are free of charge at the company's website during the beta period, with printed versions of the plans available for a nominal fee.

Executive Moves

Cassidy Turley named David Simon, its COO and principal, to managing principal of the firm's NJ operations. In his expanded role, he will be responsible for the performance of 28 brokers and 17 property management pros, and focus on the business growth, recruiting, operations, client service, and staff development. He'll also work in a partnership with the NY leadership team. He joined predecessor Houston & Co. in '07.

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The Kalikow Group promoted Greg Kalikow to VP. He has worked for the firm since '03, while he was pursuing his bachelors degree at Washington University in St. Louis and a Hofstra law degree. He'll focus on financial analysis, lease purchase agreements, property management, and new acquisition evaluation in his new role.

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Patrick Flinn joined JLL as managing director to steer and grow the firm's public institutions practice for the Northeast Region, including advising on all aspects of large-scale privatization and other public sector advisory and transactional projects. He was previously with the Port Authority, and held positions at Citibank and several other financial services firms. He's a graduate of Montclair University.

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Peter Rosenberg joined Africa Israel USA as managing director of development, responsible for commercial and residential development, including the redevelopment of The Clock Tower condo at Madison Square Park and the transformation and repurposing of the Times Square Building. He was previously with Stellar Management and Rockrose Development. He's a graduate of NYU and the University of Vermont.

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Vincent Adovasio joined Spandrel Property Services as executive property manager, overseeing general property operations and compliance with a focus on One Brooklyn Bridge Park and Loft 25 Condominium. He was previously with Parkchester South Condominium. He's a College of Westchester grad, earned a RAM certificate from NYU, and served in the Marines Corps.

Related Topics: Silverstein Properties, Brad Cohen, Adam Silver, Meridian Capital Group, The Gotham Org, Monday Properties, Hall Oster, Stephen Palmese, Scott Savacool, NYC Housing Development Corp, Helen Hwang, New England, James Nelson, Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, FINANCINGMeridian Capital Group, Avi Weinstock, Barbara Raskob, John Ciraulo, Stellar Management, Girls Club, Paul Amrich, Gary Rosen, Ariel Schuster, Brooklyn Heights, Steven Kaufman, Housing Preservation, Alan Bonett, Ripco Real Estate, Cary Pollack, Sesame Street, Howard Tenenbaum, PBS Real Estate, Lower East Side, Madison Square Park, Jordan Berger, Norman Bobrow, David Lebenstein, Rechler Equity Partners, Greg Covey, Wendy Miller, East Side, Mark Gordon, David Simon, William Cuddy Jr, Kevin Langtry, Barry Gosin, Scott Berfas, Washington University, Jeffrey Weinberg, Vicus Partners, Alicia Popper, Esther Zar, Rockrose Development, The NY, Africa Israel USA, Times Square Building, Gerry Miovski, John Brod, Harry Stavro, Port Chester, Jason Pennington, Patricia Garcia, Debra Wollens, Michael Azarian, Christopher Mansfield, The Kalikow Group, Martin Horner, Joseph Taub, Jared Horowitz, The Dermot Co, Richard Swartz, John Ryan, Jack Adler, Peter Rosenberg, Michael Dreizen, Edward DiTolla, Karen Wiedenmann, Michael Silver, Craig Hantgan, Jonathan Burke, Andy Udis, Richard Gelber, Rosario Dawson, Stephen Benjamin, Jason Meister, Brett Zelner, Steven Kohn, Evan Pariser, Signature Partners, Ogden CAP Properties, Joseph Pollaci, Sesame Workshop, Northeast Region, The Clock Tower, William Elder, Spandrel Property Services, Kenneth Rapp, Sansone Group, Metro Green, Jeff Peck, David Hoffman Jr, Bert Rosenblatt, Mark Kapnick, Gary Kerper, Joshua Olshin, Lester Schwalb, Barry Finkelman, TPR Holdings, Andre Altholz, One Brooklyn Bridge Park, TMP Worldwide Advertising, Satterlee Stephens Burke, Drew Saunders, Madison Associates, New Gotham, Douglas Hercher