BY AL BARBARINO

Eastern Consolidated has arranged the sale of a 1,500-square-foot retail condo at 119 Chambers Street, currently occupied by high-end designer thrift shop Housing Works, for $2.5 million, The Commercial Observer has learned.

The condo, located in Tribeca’s densest retail thoroughfare, features a 1,500-square-foot street level space, with 25 feet of retail frontage, and a renovated 1,500-square-foot basement.

The new ownership will benefit from the tremendous foot and vehicular traffic in the neighborhood, home to a melting pot of residents, commuters, students and tourists, said Eastern Consolidated’s Senior Director Adelaide Polsinelli, who represented the buyer and the seller, both local investors, with Associate Director Robert Khodadadian.

Contrary to typical retail scenarios, buyers are flocking to side streets in Tribeca, Ms. Polsinelli added.

“Downtown is hotter than ever, and TriBeCa retail is really beginning to sizzle with the side streets now taking on the overflow from the avenues,” she said. “With more than 60,000 new families now living below Canal Street post-9/11, investors and national retailers who were reluctant to have a presence here are now rethinking their decisions.”

To read the full story, click here

BY KARSTEN STRAUSS

Film and television prop rental company, Prop n Spoon, signed a 45,165-square-foot lease at 32-00 Skillman Avenue in Queens, a.k.a, the Swingline Building—the former headquarters of the Swingline Stapler Company.

The 10-year contract will give the firm a large area to house its prop and furniture products, as well as a showroom for its set fabrication capabilities.

Prop n Spoon, represented by Studley managing director, Jarod Stern, had searched for about three years for a new expansion location, looking in Manhattan as well.

The company chose Long Island City because it was economically advantageous and was close to entertainment industry clients, including Silvercup Studios – where smash hits like NBC’s 30 Rock (pictured, above) and the CW’s Gossip Girl are filmed – and Kaufman Astoria Studios, said Dyann Klein, co-founder of the Prop n Spoon.

The company also has a 60,000-square-foot shop in Rahway, New Jersey, focused on set fabrication.

To read the full story, click here

BY BILLY GRAY

Law firm to the stars Grubman Indursky Shire & Meiseles will stay grounded at Carnegie Hall Tower after renewing its 26,000-square-foot lease at the Midtown building.

Crain's reports that the entertainment firm, which lists Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga and U2 among its clients, will pay rents in the $90 per square foot range for the 30th, 31st and partial 32nd floors of the tower, where it has maintained offices since 1991.

Michael Cohen, the tristate president of Colliers International, represented the tenant. Matt Leon, a broker at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, represented the owner, TF Cornerstone, alongside in-house representative Chip Sealy.

To read the full story, click here