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Commercial Observer
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Edited by Jotham Sederstrom | Jsederstrom@observer.com

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Tuesday February 26, 2013
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Massey Knakal Arranges Yeshiva University Sale

BY AL BARBARINO

Massey Knakal has sold a portfolio of three office buildings on behalf ofYeshiva University for $87.5 million, The Commercial Observer has learned.

The 16-story, pre-war office building at 920 Broadway – in Midtown South’s Flatiron District – has roughly 110,000 rentable square feet and accounted for $58.5 million of the transaction. It features 96 feet of footage on Broadway and 74 feet along East 21st Street and the corner building is zoned for office and residential development.

The 12-story block-through office building at 9 East 38th Street in the heart of Midtown has about 94,000 rentable square feet, with 47.5 feet of frontage along East 38th Street and 50 feet of frontage on East 39th Street. A three story, 25-foot-wide adjunct building provides half of the frontage along 39th Street, with the two buildings netting the remaining $29 million of the transaction.

To read the full story, click here.

Newcastle Realty’s Late Year Pickups Highlight Record Fourth Quarter for Investment Sales

BY AL BARBARINO

Real estate investment firm Newcastle Realty Services purchased neighboring apartment buildings at 656 and 759 St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem for a combined $5.6 million from Colorado-based real estate firm Aimco late last year, city records posted yesterday show.

Sellers sought to unload properties before looming capital gains tax hikes as December wound down, a main reason why the fourth quarter was the strongest investment sales quarter in two and a half decades. The firm paid $4.4 million for the six-story, 20,640-square-foot property at 656 St. Nicholas Avenue, which features 30 residential units; and $1.2 million for the building at 759 — a 5,666-square-foot, four-story building with nine units.

The firm did not return calls seeking comment, but the purchase comes on the heels of reports that the firm purchased a 70,000-square-foot Upper West Side property at 380 Columbus Avenue for $50 million from Joben Realty Associates in another deal that closed at the end of December.

To read the full story, click here.

Restaurateur Signs on to Run WFC Marketplace

BY GUS DELAPORTE

Restaurateur Peter Poulakakos has signed on to run the 30,000-square-foot marketplace at Brookfield’s World Financial Center, the New York Post reported yesterday.

Poulakakos is perhaps best known as operator of coffee chain Financier Patisserie but also oversees downtown restaurants Harry’s Café, Harry’s Steak, Adrienne’s Pizza Bar, Ulysses’ and Bayard’s.

“We met with everyone who has the expertise and desire to open a world class market in Manhattan and we were really blown away by Peter’s vision for marketplace,” Edward Hogan, Brookfield’s national director of retail leasing, told The Commercial Observer. The marketplace will include two restaurants, a Brookfield Properties spokesperson told the Post, one an outside space and another likely focusing on seafood. The market will total 23,000 square feet of indoor space, with an additional 7,000 square feet outside, according to the report.

As previously reported by The Commercial Observer, Brookfield recently signed leases with eight casual restaurants for World Financial Center. The new restaurants are: Chop’t Creative Salad Company, Dig Inn Seasonal Market, Dos Toros, Little Muenster, Num Pang, Skinny Pizza, Sprinkles Cupcakes and Umami Burger. The eateries will operate on a 600-seat dining terrace which is currently under construction.

To read the full story, click here.

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