BY THE EDITORS

Since 2008, when The New York Observer launched its annual Power 100 rankings of real estate professionals, the responsibility of selecting, promoting and demoting the city’s top brokers and developers laid solely on our editorial staff. But in a twist this year, we’re asking you, our online readers, to make the tough calls. Between today and Friday, we’re asking you to rank the professionals of your choice to let us know where they truly belong.

To help in the task, we’ve included a list of suggested professionals for you to drag to the right side of the screen. But if someone you support isn’t included, be they from the residential or commercial sectors, simply write them in and click submit. Feel free to select as many, or as few, people as you desire, and make sure to get out the vote.

We’ll be unveiling the final results of the poll on Monday, April 29 and releasing our official Power 100 rankings in print and online on Tuesday April 30.

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BY GUS DELAPORTE

After two years of consecutive increases, rents in Midtown South dropped during the first quarter of 2013, according to CompStak’s effective rent report for the Manhattan office market, provided exclusively to The Commercial Observer.

Effective rent, which includes landlord concessions, in Midtown South fell during the first quarter to $44.62 from $46.44 in the fourth quarter of 2012, a decrease of nearly 4 percent. Starting rent fell from $49.47 to $47.14 during the same period.

Despite the decrease in effective rent in Midtown South, it is too early to determine whether the Midtown South submarket’s run is coming to end, according to the report. “Over 70 percent of the leases signed in the market were new leases—the sign of a vibrant market,” the report noted.

As expected, tech dominated leasing in Midtown South during the first quarter, with the most significant deals being Shutterstock’s 80,000-square-foot relocation to the Empire State Building and Google’s expansion at Chelsea Market.

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BY BILLY GRAY

The consignment store Second Time Around signed a long-term lease for 1,213 square feet of Stuyvesant Town real estate at 334 First Avenue.

Scott Galin and Darell Handler of Handler Real Estate Organization represented the tenant. Bruce Spiegel and William Bergman of Rose Associates, Inc. represented the landlord, ST Owner, LP. Messrs. Galin and Handler said asking rent was $120 per square foot.

“The density of the residential population in Peter Cooper Village and Stuy Town really drove this deal,” Mr. Handler said. “There have been a lot of changes to the 1st Avenue retail component. The chemistry was perfect.”

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BY AL BARBARINO

A modern building feat has occurred.

In a new YouTube video that surfaced yesterday, user “Homeschooledman” alleges that it took him just “five minutes” to build the Empire State Building – and it wasn’t even challenging.

Homeschooledman said he purchased the 77-piece plastic replica of the historic building – made by toymaker LEGO as part of the LEGO Architecture line – at the Lego store in Kansas City.

He awards the LEGO model 4.5 out of 5 stars (it looks great on his shelf), but the spire detaches from the rest of the building too easily, the structure lacks sturdiness, not to mention he didn’t break a sweat building it.

“Like I said, this is not a challenging build,” he says. “It took me all of like five minutes to build.”

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BY MICHAEL EWING

Don’t forget to submit your Retail Deal of the Year submissions to Desiree Jones of Real Estate Board of New York. She can be contacted by email at djones@rebny.com.

Join the Real Estate Board of New York for a member luncheon featuring Robert Knakal as moderator and Kenneth Bernstein, Michael Stern and Christopher Schlank on the panel.
Snap Shots: Creative Deals Outside the Box, 1335 Avenue of the Americas; 11:45am-2pm, contact Ossie Shemtov at oshemtov@rebny.com for more information.