Articles 04.07.11

Why New York City Still Rocks!

Great article about why New York is such a unique place. For those of you who are diehard urbanites I also suggest the recently published book "Triumph of the City" by Nathan Glaeser, a Harvard economist. A quick and thought provoking read about the advantages of city living and how public policy has failed our cities over the past five decades.

Tips for Saving Time

Probably the best tip is to stop reading blogs! However, this article has some good ideas. I recently started using the web tool "Dropbox” as a way of being able access my files from any computer and to share them with others.

Quick Solution to New York City's Rat Infestation Problem

3 words.

“Neutered feral ferrets.”

If the city were to release these vicious little rat killers into the subway system the city's rat problem could be solved in less than a year. Not exactly the most politically correct solution but certainly effective!

Public Buildings, "Super Development Rights" and an Affordable Housing Solution

Creating affordable housing in New York has been an serious issue since the Dutch settlers first discovered Manhattan (good opening sentence but a bit of an exaggeration). Some of significant obstacles to the creation of affordable housing include high acquisition and construction costs, high real estate taxes and a limited supply of appropriate sites. Many programs have been devised to attempt to address these concerns but the problem still exists. A proposed solution: There exist a large inventory of excess development rights associated with city and state own properties throughout the city. To allow each governmental entity to realize the maximum benefit from these excess development rights and to also encourage the creation of affordable housing, the zoning resolution should be modified to create a "super development right" that would permit these excess development rights to be transferable to any property within a certain radius of the subject site so long as they are used for the construction of affordable housing. This would help average down the acquisition costs associated with the creation of affordable housing, increased significantly the number of potential sites and, if coupled with real estate tax abatements etc. would help reduce the operating costs of the buildings.

In addition, if developers were allowed to vacate older tenement style buildings and replace them with larger buildings (by either using the "super development rights" described above or other available techniques to increase density) containing an equal or number of affordable units this would increase significantly the number of sites available for affordable housing. For example, a developer should be permitted to demolish a 20 unit walk-up tenement style building and, by utilizing a combination of the excess development rights associated with that building and the acquisition of additional "super development rights,"to construct a 100 unit property containing 20 affordable units and 80 market rate units.

In order to accomplish this, the developer would have to be allowed to relocate the rent regulated tenants within these buildings. Not only would this result in the replacement of old decrepit housing stock with new, it would significantly increase increased the city's tax base. In addition, it would also generate additional revenues to the city or

the state from the purchase of the "super development rights" by the developer.

Means Testing and Rent Regulations

Perhaps one of the most perplexing questions about the current system of rent regulations is why there is no system of means testing to ensure that those who are receiving the benefits of the rent laws are actually those in need of affordable housing. The argument always made in support of rent regulations is that it is needed to preserve affordable housing. However, without a means test the system does not guarantee that regulated housing necessarily goes to those in need. In fact, it is truly ironic that many of our elected officials (US Congressman Charlie Rangel, City Council President Christine Quinn, former Governor Patterson, to name just a few) occupy rent regulated apartments while trumpeting the need to maintain the rent laws to preserve affordable housing for the needy.

To eliminate the hypocrisy in the system and to create a fund for the creation of additional affordable housing a means test should be established for rent regulated housing . For those current tenants whose income exceeds the threshold, the landlord would be permitted to not renew their lease, deregulate the apartment and then charge a market rent provided that the landlord makes a contribution to a city fund that would be utilize to the finance the creation of affordable housing. The amount of the

contribution would be a formula based upon the amount by which the landlord was able to increase its rent upon the vacancy.

Are you

a

Closet Republican?

I think this billboard on the West Side Hwy. says it all.

The Madness of City Real Estate Taxes

Surprise! Even as the net operating income of City properties declined over the past several years, our tax assessments have increased, in some cases quite significantly (see the article "The Madness of City Property Taxes"). Of course , on the face of it, this makes no sense but a careful analysis of the system of calculating real estate taxes makes it clear that tax assessments are a significantly lagging indicator. The reason, the determination of real estate taxes are based upon income and expense statements owners have to file about their properties. The information on these forms are from a previous year and are the basis of the calculation of tax assessments for the current year. The result is that tax assessments lag the market. This works the disadvantage of property owners in a bad market but to their advantage in an improving market as tax assessments decline even as the income of the building is going up.

The World Loves New York

In a world that seems to be going mad, New York is viewed as an island of stability (maybe it's because of all the schist on which our buildings are built!) The most recent example of this is the purchase of the former NBA store at 666 Fifth Avenue by a Spanish retailer for over $8000 a foot. Foreign money is fueling a resurgence of the real estate investment market in our city. The foreigners (who often have a much better world view than us) appreciate the political and economic stability that New York City offers relative to the rest of the world.

Negotiating 101

For some useful negotiating tips take a look at the article "Five things you should never say while negotiating." Strangely, "I love you" isn't included.

Web Site

As part of Sierra's rebranding of an office building that we took over last year, we created a website that has generated a tremendous amount of interest in the property. Last year the property suffered with a vacancy rate in excess of 30%. Today, the building is 98 % leased in no small part due to the rebranding of the building. Take a look at the website at http://www.bleeckerandbond.com/.

Articles 03.22.11

Two interesting articles --

• "Sierra Realty Putting West Side Studios on the Map with Spate of New Deals," from Real Estate Weekly
• and the story of candy concern Swissmaker and our own Brad Schwarz ink deal in "Twisting Times Square Lease," from The Commercial Observer

Enjoy!

Be A Charismatic Speaker

Josh Gordesky at the smart writing and speaking tips blog, I Hate Long Emails, has a smart fun interview with me here. Go read it, and check out other great content. We added Josh to our blogroll for future convenience.

Articles 02.18.11

The Taxi Cab as Economic Indicator

I have some pretty unscientific economic indicators that I watch to judge the state of our local economy. These would include the ability to get a cab in midtown Manhattan on a rainy day during rush-hour, whether my doorman gives me stock tips in the morning or how crowded the public tennis courts are in Central Park (the more crowded, the lousier the economy -- people give up their country club memberships). The article “Can You Hack it?” discusses what the history of the New York City taxi drivers says about the US economy.

Snow Removal: how the city can do it for free!

Shoveling snow is great aerobic exercise. The next time there is a major snowstorm, the city should require local health clubs to offer the hottest new exercise class -- the snow shovel aerobic workout!

Persistent Unemployment

Despite a pickup in the economy, unemployment continues to be a stubborn problem. I've always felt that unemployment issues are not just a function of the direct cost of hiring but also the myriad of rules and regulations with which employers must contend including fair labor laws, minimum wage requirements, OSHA requirements, etc., etc., etc., all of which add significantly to the cost of employment.My idea: during a severe economic downturn permit companies to hire unemployed workers and exempt the companies from complying with many of these rules and regulations with respect to these employees for a specified number of years. This would encourage employment by removing many of the obstacles and barriers that discourage employers from hiring.

The Silver Lining

Serious structural reform usually only occurs during periods of crisis. Only then are people compelled by economic necessity to resolve serious problems. The Great Depression gave birth to the New Deal, New York's flirtation with bankruptcy in 1977 resulted in significant labor concessions from local unions. Now with New York State and the city confronting the worst economic downturn in a generation there is a terrific opportunity to fix many of the structural problems that have plagued the city and state for many years. Pension reform, ethics reform, budgetary and fiscal policy, last in/last out firing policies etc. are all issues that have now been brought to the forefront and have a reasonable chance of resolution. Andrew Cuomo (much to my pleasant surprise) appears to be very much aware of the opportunity he has to effectuate this change. Hopefully he will have the willpower and strength to continue the fight until these changes are brought about. To see how other governors are taking advantage of the current economic downturn to effectuate serious structural reform, take a look at this New York Times article.

Efficiency

There is hardly a hard-fought political campaign that doesn't go by without one or more major candidates pledging to make government function more efficiently by eliminating government waste and needless spending. Yet, once the smoke clears and the election results are determined, these campaign promises often become empty pledges. What I find particularly alarming is that in all the discussions we are now hearing about budget deficits, nobody has really talked about how to make government function more efficiently as a way of reducing our deficits. They either discuss layoffs and service reduction or increasing taxes. It is time for politicians to act less like the politicians that they are and to behave more like the seasoned managers we need and take a hard look at how government functions and figure out how to eliminate much of the waste. The recent experiences of our airlines and auto companies are good examples of two industries that, through disciplined belt-tightening, have been able to rise from the dead. Our governments need to take a chapter from their books and weed out the gross inefficiencies in our systems.

The Greatest Year Ever

So what was the greatest year in the history of the city? For me, it was 1976. Even though the city was in the depths of a terrible downturn, a new creative spirit was beginning to take hold in Soho and the Village. I was living down on the fifth floor of a walk up on Sullivan Street in SoHo at the time. I was working as a bus boy in a trendy SoHo restaurant. In my free time I visited the new art galleries that were opening up in the area, listening to the new punk bands that were premiering at Max's Kansas City and CBGB’s, and hanging out in Washington Square Park and watching the world unfold around me while drinking Miller Hi-life out of a brown paper bag. I didn't have a care in the world. For other takes on the greatest year ever take a look at the article "The Greatest New York Ever."

All You Little Piggies!

Feeling hungry? Check out "Where to Eat."

Sierra in the News

Journalist Jotham Sederstrom has a wonderful interview with our own Peter Braus in The Commercial Observer about ideas for Pier 57.

The good folks at City Biz report that Demetri Ganiaris has joined Sierra Realty as senior vice president of acquisition and development. Ganiaris has more than 15 years of experience inNew York City real estate and economic development. Prior to joining Sierra Realty, Ganiaris was a founding member and managing principal of Alder Real Estate Partners, a real estate advisory and brokerage firm that provided asset management and strategic planning services for such clients as Brevet Capital, Aris Real Estate Partners and EEK Architects. He previously worked at Vornado Realty Trust and the New York City Economic Development Corporation in the areas of program management, leasing, construction, contract management and real estate transactions. We are so pleased to have him aboard.

And again, Jotham Sederstrom writes in The Commercial Observer about Garry Steinberg moving from a highly successful career in retail to brokering space for the same with us at Sierra Realty. Awesome photo!

The Real Deal reports that our new building, former Swig FiDi, a seven-story, roughly 40,000-square-foot vacant commercial building at 140 William Street, is seeking tenants for the first time since it changed hands, after sitting vacant for several years. The tenant could be, well, anybody! The building could easily accommodate residential or commercial occupants, or even a hotel.

Sierra in the News

Journalist Adrianne Pasquarelli in Crain's New York business reports that high-end Italian menswear retailer Tincati is making its U.S. debut in the Big Apple. The Milan based company recently signed a 14-year lease at 20 E. 63rd St., between Fifth and Madison avenues. The lease includes all 6,000 square feet of retail space in the five-story townhouse, nearly 1,100 square feet of which are on the ground floor. Asking rent, including taxes, was $800,000 a year. That price translates to a blended rent of $133 per square foot for the building.

The good folks at Real Estate Weekly have a story on our recent hire of Garry Steinberg, a licensed broker and seasoned commercial real estate specialist with more than three decades of experience in the fashion industry, as managing director. Steinberg will focus on the fashion, cosmetics, home and accessories industries.

Our friends at the always excellent Mann Report have a wonderful piece on how we brought Sprinkles, Hollywood's favorite cupcake bakery, to New York City.

The Mann Report also has a nice story up about Brooke Lovell, our new vice president of communications and marketing. Brooke will focus on our long-term marketing strategy, corporate communications, and managing client marketing campaigns.

Again from the Mann Report, a wonderful, perceptive piece on our own Peter Braus:

Over the years, [Braus] has represented such landlords as the Battery Park City Authority, C&K Properties, Goldman Sachs and the ownership of Brown Harris Stevens. Braus represents M&T Bank in New York City and has secured numerous locations for the bank, including their flagship location at 11 West 42nd Street. Recent transactions include the new Francois Payard Bakery at 116 West Houston Street and Sarabethʼs Tribeca location at 339 Greenwich Street. He has also been responsible for dozens more lease transactions in Nolita, Soho, and Tribeca for brands like Ed Hardy and Sigerson Morrison.

Articles 8.31.10

Local Manufacturing Jobs: stick a fork in it, it's done?

Contrary to popular belief manufacturing as an industry is not dead in New York. In fact, as the article "Made in Brooklyn" illustrates certain types of manufacturing jobs are thriving in New York.

Grab your Nuts and Have Sex 700 times a year: The Best Health Advice I've ever received.
Need I say more? Check out "What Works."

New York Uncovered
One of the great things about living in New York City is that it's very difficult to get bored. The city is dynamic, multicultural, and amazingly diverse. I've lived here over 50 years and can always find something new to explore. Two recommendations: Chicago has its famed architectural tour conducted from a tour boat on the river. Now New York has a similar tour. If you're a building nut like my wife and me, I heartily recommend this tour. For more information look at the article "A Singular Perspective on the Urban Mosaic."

For something more pastoral, take a trip to Governors Island. Viewing it from a distance does not do it justice. It needs to be experienced to be truly appreciated. Besides being architecturally interesting and offering great views of the city where many cultural programs that are going on there that should be experienced. Go by yourself or bring the kids. The article "Governors Island as Playground" is aptly named.

How to Seduce a Community
Given the experience of Wal-Mart in unsuccessfully attempting to open its first store in New York City over the past decade it is somewhat surprising to find other big-box retailers who have succeeded where the country's biggest retailer has failed. For a primer on how to accomplish this difficult task take a look at the article "A Decade of Wooing."

How to Push a New Yorker's Buttons
We all have our pet peeves. The article "What drives New Yorkers up a wall" describes New Yorker's top annoyances. Don't expect too many surprises.

Jingle Mail

Those of you who are regular readers of my blog know my fascination with various terms that crop up from time to time that indicate what is going on in the marketplace. The newest entry "jingle mail" refers to a property owner mailing the keys to a property back to their lender. Definitely a sign of the times!

And the winner is!
(And, no it's not "Stairway to Heaven." So what is Rolling Stone's top rock 'n roll song of all time? Take a look.

News and Views, August 13

Stats and the City

For some curious statistics about the City check out this article.

What I found particularly interesting is that while $2 today buys you what $1 got you in 1985 (a 100% inflation rate over 25 years), average apartment prices for a one bedroom co-op/condo in Manhattan have increased 185% (significantly higher than the inflation rate), the average asking rent for commercial space has increased 76% (significantly less than the inflation rate), and the average 30-year fixed rate for New York area co-op mortgages has decreased from 13.28% in 1985 to 5.13% in 2010 (which probably explains why the appreciation in co-op/condo prices has greatly outpaced inflation during this period).

Also interesting is that while the city's population increased by 1.2 million people over the 25-year period, the number of people employed only increased by 200,000 during that time. Yet the unemployment rates were 8.2% in 1985 and 9.4% in 2010. Given the large increase in population relative to the modest increase in number of people employed over the same period together with slightly disparate unemployment figures it's difficult to explain this phenomenon.

My guess is that the number of children and elderly in the city relative to those in the workforce has increased significantly during this time period.

Operating Figures for Rent Regulated Housing

The "Highlights from the first three RGB Reports" provide some very interesting statistics relating to rent regulated housing in New York. The statistics are based on 2008 data and show that the average monthly rent for all rent stabilized units was $1,012 per unit ranging from a high of $1,404 in Manhattan to $743 in the Bronx. Operating and maintenance costs averaged approximate $739 per building.

The most startling number to me, however, was the number of properties that are characterized as "distressed" (buildings that have operating and maintenance costs greater than gross income). At 12.8% (or one in every eight buildings) this is an extremely upsetting number, particularly given that this was data collected based upon 2008 results which, for the most part occurred before the economic downturn fully affected New York.

I would expect that for 2009 and 2010 this statistic will be even worse. Under no set of circumstances is it healthy for 1/8 of the rent regulated housing stock to be in distress. This is bad for landlords, the tenants who have to live in substandard conditions as a result, and the city and the state that stand to lose significant tax revenues as a result and who ultimately may become the landlord of last resort.

Alive and Well!

It's expected that the 2010 census will demonstrate the resilience and strength of our city. New York is the only large city in the Northeast and Midwest, including Philadelphia and Chicago, that has shown substantial population gains since 2000. In fact, New York City has been adding, on average, almost 1000 people a week since 2000. What's even more interesting is the characteristics of these people and what it tells us about how the city has changed during the past decade and what we can expect going forward. For more information check out Crain’s white paper on "what the 2010 census..."

Three Years of Law School and This is What We Get

A recent newspaper article headlined " Alton attorney accidentally sues himself". Can't say that I'm surprised.

Great Idea of the Week

One political candidate’s answer to the proliferation of governmental rules and regulations: Office of the Repealer. He's got my vote.

25 Big Ideas to Change New York

Definitely worth a quick read.

No, It's Not "Stairway to Heaven" (volume 1)

Rolling Stone magazine just published their list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. I've included their list of the second through 10th. Number one will be included in my next blog posting.

Sierra in the News

Some interesting news this week:

• The New York Real Estate Journal notes that Sierra's own Jeffrey Anderson has leased 1,100 s/f to Musmanno of The Musmanno Group at 229 East 60th Street.
  

• Attention cupcake lovers! The Real Deal reports that Sierra helped our fave bakery, Sprinkles Cupcakes to lease 780 Lexington Avenue, across the street from Bloomie's.

• Real Estate Weekly's On the Scene writes about Sierra's Barry Sanet as the exclusive agent for Renaissance Studios at 130 West 57th Street -- exciting mixed use with some very glamorous retailers --

and finally,

• The Commercial Observer notes that yours truly (James Wacht) is Appleseed Advisory Council Chair -- check out their wonderful NYC advocacy and social justice work here

News and views, July 6

Distressed Assets and Foreclosures

Since everybody seems to want to get into the distressed asset business, I thought it would be useful to include an excellent e-cast on the subject. (My thanks to the Berdon LLC firm for allowing me to publish this.)

The Death of the American City

My wife and youngest son have a quest to visit every major league baseball stadium in America. This quest has taken us to many of our country's cities. Being a native New Yorker, I typically envision cities as being centers of bustling activity and commerce. My visits to other cities in the country have shown me that often my vision could not be further from the truth. Many downtowns become virtual ghost towns in the evenings and on weekends. It is very strange to wander these downtowns on a beautiful weekend day and rarely see another person. What is the cause of this phenomenon?

One culprit is the automobile and the creation of the Interstate Highway system in 1956. At the time of its creation, the Interstate Highway System was thought to be critical to our national defense by enabling troops and military supplies to move freely and quickly around the country in case of an emergency or foreign invasion (while that may sound silly today, let's not forget that this was during the height of the Cold War). In response, governments constructed elaborate highway networks in and around their cities' downtowns which, rather than facilitating the movement of troops and supplies, encouraged the flight of the middle and upper class to the ever widening bands of suburbs being developed in the surrounding areas.

Cities began to lose their lifeblood as a result of automobile culture, and as they did, tax bases eroded, services were cut and taxes increased- accelerating and perpetuating an upper and middle class exodus. As we become more attuned to the destructive effects of automobile-created sprawl on communities, culture and natural resources, we must invest in our mass transit infrastructure to reverse it, cultivating an urban density characterized by shared resources and integrated communities. A beginning of this reversal trend can be traced to the artists and urban pioneers who have adopted many cities' deserted and deteriorating neighborhoods, often out of necessity, revitalizing some of the most desolate, underused urban territories that have now become vibrant and valuable parts of the cities' fabric.


A Radical Proposal to Remake Government

I, like many of you, pay a lot in taxes. It seems that our elected representatives look at us as ATM machines available 24 hours a day/7 days a week to pay for their pet programs. It's not that I necessarily disagree with the purposes of their programs but rather more a belief that governmental agencies are so grossly mismanaged that much of our tax dollars are wasted. For me, it is not necessarily that I would like to keep more money for myself, after all even after I pay my taxes every year I still contribute significant amounts to various charitable organizations. It's that every time I read a story about non-competitive bidding for multi-billion-dollar defense contracts, $200,000 annual pension payments to government workers and the like, I cringe. So the question is: what can we do to incentivize our government to spend our tax dollars as frugally and wisely as we would if we were spending it ourselves? Privatization is a partial answer but not always satisfactory when it comes to providing quasi governmental services that serve the public good but do not generate a profit. My suggestion: allow taxpayers to take a dollar for dollar credit against their taxes (as opposed to the current deduction that the tax code allows) for any contributions they make not for profit organizations that provide quasi-governmental services. Not only would this force government to be more competitive and pay more attention to the bottom line, it would also give taxpayers substantially more control over how their tax dollars are being spent which may actually encourage even more giving than would otherwise be collected through taxation. Obviously, there are numerous issues that would have to be addressed in creating such a system but encouraging competition with government would go a long way to compel a government to function more effectively and efficiently.

Interesting Fact: Persistence Pays Off

Other than the presidency, Abraham Lincoln lost every election in which he ran.

Pigeon Poop: Some Interesting Facts about these Ubiquitous Birds or "Always Look-up as you walk"

• Number of pigeons in greater New York City area: 7 million
• Number of pigeons served in both world wars, as messengers: 1 million
• Pounds of pigeon poop produced yearly per pigeon: 25 (do the math-that's a total of 175,000,000 pounds of pigeon shit produced every year in New York City. I shudder to think where it all goes!)
• Miles per hour on pigeon can fly: 60 (the fastest animal in the world, the cheetah, can run up to 70 mph)

The Smarter Planet

For the first time in history more than one half of the world's population lives in cities. By 2050, that number could rise to 70%. IBM has created a really cool website showing their perspective of the future of cities and the earth. If you thought Fritz Lang's movie "Metropolis" was really cool you should definitely check out this website.

Recommended Websites

Occasionally, I come across websites that are particularly useful:

Cheap parking: For cheaper parking rates and discount certificates check out www.bestparking.com.

Great productivity tool: this website allows you to dictate memos etc. into your cell phone and have them transcribed and e-mailed back to you as text. Accuracy is pretty good.

A Personal Story

If you have a child who is struggling with a learning disability, this article recounts our family's experience struggling with -- and ultimately conquering -- our oldest son's learning disability.
Our son is now 19 years old and is a very successful student at University of Vermont. This article reminds me of the difficulties we experienced in dealing with his learning disability but also the tremendous gratification we felt on his success. I couldn't be prouder of my son for his accomplishments.

This Week's News Roundup

The Mann Report has a fun story about how we at Sierra tackled the impossible -- Peter Braus brought his years of restaurant leasing experience to bear -- and Murray Hill foodies prevailed!

CityBiz Real Estate reports on Sierra Development LLC, launching a new division headed by 30-year construction executive Gary Zaid, expanding our service lines to include construction and project management and owner and tenant representation. Real Estate Weekly has a nice report on our new division launch here also.

Socialnews.biz has a nice intro piece on Gary Zaid joining Sierra Realty as SVP.

And, finally, The Real Deal has a story on our commercial properties recently placed on the market -- check out the beautiful Hotel East Houston near Eldridge and Allen, on sale for $25 million.

This Week's News Roundup

Click on any of the following links to read the stories -- this week's interesting real estate business news:

NYC Architecture: better rents, new projects, and the Vornado effect bring new eateries to Midtown South.

Real Estate Board of New York's Retail Deal of the Year Awards -- fun photos here!

Crain's New York Business notes that restaurateur Ed Martinson signed a 20-year, 5,000-square-foot lease at 45 E. 30th St. Peter Braus and Peter Levitan of Sierra Realty Corp. represented both the tenant and landlord, 43 Park Owners Group. Mr. Martinson's new restaurant is scheduled to open this summer.

REBNYʼs annual Retail Deal of the Year awards highlighted the Best of 2009. Above, Ripco Real Estateʼs Peter Ripka (joined by Sierra Realtyʼs Peter Braus) holds his award for the deal that “Most Significantly Benefits Manhattan” -- the leasing journey of the 475k SF East River Plaza, which turned a dilapidated manufacturing plant into a retail destination.

M. Marianne Thorsen and An-Chi Miau of Sierra Realty are handling Hotel East Houston at 151 East Houston, between Eldridge and Allen streets, on the market for $25 million. The newly constructed hotel, comprising 15,395 square feet and six stories, has 42 rooms with custom-made furniture, wood finishes and marble bathrooms. In addition, the hotel has a banquet facility, nearby parking and a rooftop terrace and lounge that overlook the Hudson River.

Sierra Realty Corp. launched Sierra Development, its new construction and development division, which will be led by Gary Zaid. This expands the companyʼs service lines to include construction and project management, owner and tenant representation, general contracting, value engineering, and development services.

Sierra in the news

Emily Geminder in The Commercial Observer has a nice mention of our lease with pastry chef François Payard and his new shop in Greenwich Village. The 8,000-square-foot bakery and cafe on West Houston Street will come to a neighborhood that is, as our own Peter Braus said, "renowned for its great culinary personalities." Sierra is the exclusive broker for the Y&H-owned building. Ruth Shnay, also of Sierra, represented Mr. Payard, along with independent broker Nevin Danziger, in the negotiations for the 15-year lease.

Delicious news!

John Szoke Editions in the New York Gallery Building

Another nice mention of our own Sierra Realty Executive Vice President Peter Braus: he secured a long-term lease on the third floor of the New York Gallery Building (on 24 West 57th Street) -- a beautiful Art Deco building -- with John Szoke Editions. Read the whole story here.

Sierra in the News

Real Estate Weekly has a nice mention of our closing on the long-term lease of the third floor of the New York Gallery Building, 24 West 57th Street, with John Szoke Editions (their website is here); and a nice note -- with photo -- of REBNY's November Retail Committee Luncheon with our own Peter Braus here.

Our friends at New York Real Estate Journal mention that we've been appointed managing and leasing agent for 648 Broadway, ten stories and 50,000 square feet of cast iron -- it's an amazing space. The landmark 19th building is at the convergence of the most vital downtown neighborhoods: SoHo, Washington Square, the East Village, and NoLiTa.

Real Estate Weekly mentions in their Who's News section that Shane Neuringer has joined the Sierra Realty Corp team as senior vice president of acquisitions and finance here; and that Stephen Carter, licensed broker and property management specialist, has joined us as senior vice president of residential property management here.

The New York Real Estate Journal also notes Stephen's hire here, and Real Estate BizNow mentions Shane's hire here.

Thank you to all our friends!

Happy New Year!

Articles 11.30.09

A call to action! The last mayoral election should have been a wake-up call to all of us in the real estate and business community. The Working Families Party has demonstrated their ability to raise money and organize voters to support their candidates. For those of you unfamiliar with the Working Families Party they are a union supported organization whose agenda is very detrimental to the real estate and business community of the City. Two candidates they supported in the Democratic primaries, John Liu, Comptroller, and Bill De Blasio, Public Advocate, won by very decisive margins. We have a choice. We can either complain about the results or we can become more active and make our voices heard. Believe it or not (and it is hard not to be skeptical) elected officials are influenced by the communications they receive from their constituents. REBNY has made it extremely simple for us to register our views with our elected officials. I urge all of you to go to their website and start participating in the democratic process. We need to make our voices heard! Currently, there is a proposal before the City Council involving the regulation of commercial rents. Visit the REBNY Action Center website and register your opposition to this pending legislation.

For the architectural critics among you, two recent postings on the Curbed.com website should be of interest. They list the 10 best buildings constructed in 2009 and the 10 best non-buildings of 2009.

And for those of you who like a dose of fantasy mixed in with their architecture take a look at these cities of the future.

The silver lining award: if you look hard enough you can always find a silver lining in every cloud. The silver lining during this downturn is that Bob Knakal has had the time to write some of the most thoughtful and illuminating articles about real estate issues that I have read in a long time. The two that I have enjoyed the most are "A 25 Year History Holds Clues to Multi-family's Future" and "The Value of a Building These Days." Both of these articles are essential reading for all of us in the real estate industry.

Sherlock Holmes would be proud. Next time you inspect an apartment in one of your buildings take this handy guide with you ("The Apartment Inspection Checklist"). It will give you a better idea of what to look for when you inspect a tenant's apartment.

Interesting fact of the month: the population of New York City increased by 293,000 people between the years 2001 and 2008. This increase is equal to the size of the entire City of Pittsburgh.

Another terrific blog. For anybody who is interested in food, travel and New York City check out Travel and Food Notes. Besides being wonderfully written by my wife, it contains great information about local restaurants and points of interest.

It is going to get worse before it gets better: Related to my first posting above, I'm concerned about the direction in which fiscal policy of both our State and City are headed. Both our state and local government have demonstrated repeatedly over the past several years the inability to make any headway against our looming deficits. Why is this? The comments by Dick Ravitch at a recent forum are dead on.

First, Ravitch said no incumbent of either party thinks he can win an election by supporting cuts to health care and education. He said it as a statement of fact, not judgment, but it amounts to a complete explanation for why the relatively modest trims Gov. Paterson proposed were rejected by the Legislature. Health and education spending are expanding entitlements that have become the third rail of New York politics, which is why Republicans have followed Democrats in abandoning fiscal restraint.

Second, he said unions have outsmarted the business community, with the result that spending is almost impossible to cut, even in a recession. Ravitch didn't say so directly, but the net effect is that pols would rather raise taxes than the hackles of unions. Put another way, no politician fears losing his job because business is unhappy. As Pataki added, any plan to cut spending gets a press release of approval from business leaders and $10 million worth of attack ads from unions.

Third, Ravitch said complaints by business leaders that the city spends and taxes too much are bizarre given that one of their own has held City Hall for eight years. It was a sly jab at those who blame the unions for unchecked government growth while acting as if Michael Bloomberg has played no role. Spending under Bloomberg is about 30 percent above inflation, the sort of record that helped make David Dinkins a private citizen.

By being unable to cut spending, our local and state governments face only one alternative, to increase taxes, fees, fines etc. The article "Spending an End to New York's Nightmare" eloquently describes the problems that this creates. By putting itself in a competitive disadvantage New York has had a net loss of over 200,000 high income individuals over the past decade. If this trend continues, New York will dig itself into an even deeper hole as its tax base continues to erode thus putting further pressure on our governments’ to either cut spending (which is unlikely) or continue their ill-advised policy of increasing taxes. A self perpetuating death spiral in the works. When will this end? Either when we are bailed out by a booming economy or we reach a crisis that requires us to take serious and drastic action or (preferably) enough of us get sufficiently fed up with this that we actually decide to do something about it.

Sierra in the News

Crain's New York Business reporter Amanda Fung has an interesting story about artists moving to Midtown and Midtown South as asking rents in SoHo and Chelsea become too expensive. She quotes our own Peter Braus:

“SoHo has been dead for a long time for gallery business,” says Mr. Braus, who just this month helped contemporary art gallery John Szoke Editions move to APF Properties' 24 W. 57th St. after 30 years in SoHo.

And the New York Real Estate Journal mentions Peter Braus and Peter Levitan new long term retail lease at Penn Tower, 132 West 31st St., with Savvy Fashion Handbags.

"Penn Tower is the ideal location for Savvy Fashion Handbags," said Braus. "The company has both retail and wholesale divisions, so it is fitting for them to be steps from both Herald Sq. and the Garment District."

Sierra represented the owner, C&K Properties.

Thanks to Crain's and to New York Real Estate Journal!

Sierra in the News

Real Estate BisNow has a mention of John Szoke Editions' long-term lease for the third floor of 24 W. 57th St. Sierra Realty Corp.’s Peter Braus represented the tenant, while Promenade Real Estate Corp.’s Steve Pressler represented owner APF Properties.

Real Estate Weekly also mentions our new hire, Stephen B. Carter.

The Mann Report has a very nice article on the amazing Marianne Thorsen, our new Senior Managing Director. We are thrilled and delighted that Marianne, one of the city's most high-profile and creative professionals has made Sierra her home. Please join us in welcoming Marianne Thorsen!

The Mann Report is also kind enough to mention our new lease at 267 Lafayette Street (on the corner of Prince Street) with terrific clothing and shoe retailer Flight Club.

Thanks to Real Estate BisNow, Real Estate Weekly, and The Mann Report!

Sierra Realty awarded exclusive agency for 229 East 60th Street

The Mann Report mentions that Sierra Realty's own Jeffrey Anderson and Barry Sanet have been awarded exclusive agency for 229 East 60th Street, an elegant brownstones between Manhattan's Second and Third Avenues. The space is used for offices and lovely galleries and showrooms. Congratulations to Jeffrey and Barry!

Executive Moves

Crain's New York Business kindly mentions our new hire, Stephen B. Carter, who was appointed senior vice president of residential property management. He joins Sierra Realty from Manhattan North Management, where he had been vice president and director of property management. Please join us in welcoming Stephen!