BY THE EDITORS

The Mortgage Observer Weekly launched last week and, as such, our new, weekly emailed newsletter will deliver the latest commercial real estate finance news directly to your inbox each Friday morning.

The perfect companion to The Mortgage Observer magazine, this newsletter gives readers the latest transaction news, informative charts, Q&As and more delivered directly to your inbox. If you didn’t get it this morning, here’s just a glimpse at what you missed:

Our exclusive on the syndication that’s in the works for the $280 million Capital One Bank and Bank of America financing of 616 units at Riverside Center in New York.

New York Community Bank‘s $223 million refi of a Stellar Management portfolio of properties, also exclusive to The Mortgage Observer Weekly.

For a six-month trial subscription please visit our signup page. And please download our maiden issue here: Mortgage Observer Weekly, 11/09/12.

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BY AL BARBARINO

When the credit crisis hit and the real estate market all but collapsed, news of disgraced developers became commonplace, their tales more often than not layered with intrigue.

Take Kent Swig, who, after being divorced by his wife, filed an affidavit in May responding to a lawsuit filed by his ex-father-in-law, industry luminary Harry Macklowe, arguing that Mr. Macklowe embarked on a “vendetta” aimed at “starving” him of every last penny.

But as the downfalls of real estate tycoons like Mr. Macklowe, Shaya Boymelgreen, Bruce Eichner and Larry Gluck stack up like so many new developments across Manhattan’s skyline, analysts and the city’s landlords themselves have begun to wonder aloud if there’s a limit to how much real estate can be accumulated.

“A developer’s function is to develop property, and sometimes they develop and develop until they can’t develop anymore,” said appraiser Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel Inc., a real estate appraisal and consulting firm based in New York City. “Where people fell short was that the market was more powerful than them … the market is brutal, and it has no compassion.”

With President Obama elected to four more years in the White House, a juggernaut exists in the looming Bush tax-cut deadline. Nobody knows for sure whether the cuts will expire, but as it stands, if Congress does nothing, capital gains taxes will increase from 15 percent to as much as 28.8 percent, including surcharges, tax experts said.

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BY STEPHEN KLEEGE

Alexander Chudnoff, a commercial leasing broker who takes pride in strengthening relationships with clients through “impeccable service,” was especially busy in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

The Jones Lang LaSalle executive managing director was dividing his time last week between volunteer efforts in the Rockaways, where he provided hot pizza and coffee to storm victims, and getting on the phone to make sure his Downtown Manhattan clients could stay open. Though it was a difficult time, the activity of making connections was just what attracted Mr. Chudnoff to the business in the first place.

“I love to make calls. I love to canvass,” he said. “I like to develop the relationship.”

In some cases, the storm required short-term arrangements, such as lining up space with other clients or in Jones Lang’s own offices, he said. In others, clients were able to proceed with minimal disruption, as when Dentsu Holdings USA returned to work at 32 Avenue of the Americas when Rudin Management opened the building the Monday after the storm.

At 42, Mr. Chudnoff has helped broker some of the biggest, most complex transactions in the New York market, including the relocation of Cantor Fitzgerald LP and Fred Alger Management Inc. after their offices were destroyed in the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Working with colleague Mitchell Konsker when the two brokers were with Cushman & Wakefield, Mr. Chudnoff helped shepherd Cantor through a series of moves, eventually consolidating its headquarters into 225,000 square feet at 110 East 59th Street and 40,000 square feet next door at 499 Park Avenue.

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BY AL BARBARINO

Halstead Properties is exclusively marketing 260 Meserole Street in Buschwick, Brooklyn, which is attracting music and beer lovers from throughout the borough; and at least one broker is dubbing it the “Electric Circus of Buschwick.”

The 19th century warehouse has been transformed into the largest community for musicians in New York City, also featuring its largest beer hall, brokers at Halstead said.

The 72,000-square-foot, five-story redbrick building, built in 1858, is home to The Well, a 15,000-square-foot brewery; The Wick, an 8,000-square-foot performance space; Buschwick Supply, which sells music supplies; a vacant space to be filled by a pizzeria; and a number of music studios by Danbro Studios.

“This building epitomizes the new spirit of the new Brooklyn,” said John Goldman, managing director of Halstead’s commercial division, who has four decades of real estate experience. “New, exciting and hip places have often been signified by a single building.”

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