BY AL BARBARINO

Ariel Property Advisors has arranged the $3.7 million sale of a house of worship at 612 West 180th Street in Washington Heights, The Commercial Observer has learned.

The former site of the Congregation Mita was sold to The Universal Church, which has locations throughout the United States and will likely renovate the existing 12,631-square-foot building, which features a sanctuary with space for 670 guests.

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BY GUS DELAPORTE

Glasgow Caledonian University, one of the largest universities in Scotland, has signed a 15-year, 13,500-square-foot lease for the entire ground floor and lower level at 64 Wooster Street in Soho.

The school, which traces its history back to 1875, has plans to link its New York campus with a sister institution in London—GCU London—and the British School of Fashion based there. GCU’s New York location will offer courses in fashion business, luxury brand management and marketing, as well as broader executive education programs.

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BY BILLY GRAY

Beth Israel Medical Center signed a 15-year, 98,913-square-foot lease extension at 111 Eighth Avenue, the 2.9-million-square-foot Chelsea building owned by Google.

Robert Martin and Barbara Winter of Jones Lang LaSalle represented the tenant. Google was represented by Matthew Weir, Kenneth Rapp and David Hollander of Taconic Investment Partners along with Doug Lehman of CBRE.

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BY ROBERT KNAKAL

Government spending will come under the microscope in the coming weeks as we approach the debt limit and our elected officials try to figure out how to keep the government open for business. In all of these negotiations, the topics of revenue (taxes) and spending (expenses) will surely rise. One thing has been very obvious over the past many years: Politicians love to spend our tax dollars—and spend and spend and spend.

This disease is not limited to one party over the other. During the eight years under George W. Bush, gross domestic product grew by about 15 percent, and spending grew by a whopping 57 percent. Under President Barack Obama, GDP growth has averaged 1.53 percent per year, and spending has exploded to the point where in five years our debt has grown from $11 trillion to almost $17 trillion. As you can see, both parties are responsible for the loose purse strings that are creating all kinds of economic headwinds for the U.S.

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BY RICHARD PERSICHETTI

With three quarters in the books and the Manhattan office market strong, the availability rate dropped 20 basis points in the third quarter to 11.2 percent—the lowest since 2008. The overall average asking rent increased $1.41 per square foot to $63.55—the highest since 2008. But how did the three major markets perform in the third quarter?

Midtown availability dropped 20 basis points in the third quarter to 11.2 percent, while overall asking rents rose $0.84 to $70.62 per square foot. Midtown South availability actually increased in the third quarter by 40 basis points to 8.7 percent, but overall asking rents jumped $3.60 to $62.92 per square foot. These changes can be mostly attributed to 51 Astor Place’s 400,000 square feet being added to the inventory. After an abundance of available space hit the market in Downtown in the second quarter, the availability rate plummeted 110 basis points back to 13.5 percent. Overall asking rents climbed $0.43 per square foot to $47.73.

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