Broadway Partners

Amid all the dreadful news about commercial real estate, it’s outright soothing to hear that nuts-and-bolts leases continue to get signed.

Broadway Partners just inked a sizable new lease at its 340 Madison Avenue, the 22-story, squat glass building one block from Grand Central.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency –- an arm of the Treasury Department that regulates national banks (and, boy!, could they use some regulation) -- has leased 50,519 square feet in the building, which the OCC has leased in since 2004. The office is expanding its footprint from about 45,000 square feet. The asking rent was $80 a square foot.  read more »

Broadway Partners has sold for $375 million the first building it ever bought in Manhattan, 660 Madison Avenue. Broadway Partners' Web site says the 13-story building is 254,474 square feet, meaning it sold for over $1,470 a square foot, a hefty price tag in even today's heated investment sales market. Its tenants include residential real estate behemoth the Corcoran Group and the flagship retail location of Barneys New York.

Scott Lawlor's ravenous Broadway bought 660 Madison in May 2006 for $216 million, and went to contract on its sale in August of this year; the sale was recorded in city records this morning. The buyer was Etoile 660 Madison LLC.

After an absolute blitz of activity at the beginning of the year, Broadway Partners has remained relatively quiet on the commercial real estate acquisition front over the last few months.

However, that changed today when the New York-based investment and management firm announced its acquisition of 500 West Monroe Street in Chicago. The 46-story, 973,100-square-foot property, whose tenants include GE Capital and Marsh and McLennan, boasts the largest in-building parking garage in the Windy City, according to a press release.

Broadway Partners has been one of the most active real estate investment firms in the country over the last year. In March, news came of a deal with Beacon Capital Partners for a portfolio of an astounding $5 billion in property across the country, including the two Manhattan trophies, 237 Park Avenue and 100 Wall Street. The transaction had tongues wagging, largely because it dwarfed the $3.3 billion deal that Broadway Partners closed with Beacon in late-2006.  read more »

Broadway Partners now officially owns the New York Daily News building.

The increasingly active landlord closed on the 14-story building located at 450 West 33rd Street today, according to a press release. The Observer reported back in February that the building went to contract. The sale price was $664 million.

The home of the Daily News has approximately 1.6 million square feet of office space. The paper is not the only news source in residence either: Other tenants include the Associated Press, Channel 13 and U.S. News & World Report.  read more »

Surprise. Broadway Partners and Beacon Capital Partners finally announced the deal The Observer reported first two months ago.

The portfolio buy includes 24 national buildings and two city prizes: 237 Park Avenue and 100 Wall Street.  read more »

Harry and Billy Macklowe are so busy.  read more »

The 10 Most Expensive Buildings in New York City If every New York City office building went up for sale, which ones would sell for the highest price? The Observer asked the denizens of the real estate world--the people who buy the buildings and the ones who trade them--which towers they thought would close with the biggest price tags. Go to story by John Koblin. The Crisis of the Upper-Middle Class: Big Pay Is Piddling in New York Pity upper-middle class Manhattanites. The average sales price of apartments here has spiked so extremely--tripling in the last decade to a record $1,295,445, according to a recent Prudential Douglas Elliman report--that only the most excessively well-heeled can become local owners. Go to story by Max Abelson. City Mean to Developers Being Green? Despite the hype about green roofs; despite the rampant branding of luxury residences with names like The Solaire and Tribeca Green; despite the cachet that once-repulsive ideas have now garnered (waterless urinals! recycled rainwater!); technologies that allow buildings to generate at least a portion of their own power in a clean, efficient way are having trouble catching on in Manhttan. Go to story by Matthew Schuerman. Another for Broadway Partners! Busy Firm Buys 280 Park for $1.2 B. The most ferocious investment firm of the last six months, Broadway Partners, is in contract to purchase 280 Park Avenue from Istithmar for a little more than $1.2 billion, a source said. Murray Hill Properties Nabs 1180 Avenue of the Americas for $300 M. One of the city's most active landlords, Murray Hill Properties, is in contract to purchase 1180 Avenue of the Americas for at least $300 million, a source said. Go to Commercial Breaks by John Koblin. New Whole Foods Seeks 21st Amendment Whole Foods' whopping 71,000-square-foot new supermarket opened last week on the Bowery at Houston Street, boasting perhaps the most extensive selection of groceries in Manhattan--though not a drop of alcohol. No organic Oregonian red wines. No earthy Vermont microbrews. Not even any gluten-free sorghum beers. Humble Ping-Pong Racket Merely a (Store)front for Entreprenuerial Brothers Barely one and a half weeks into existence, the tiny table-tennis club on Norfolk Street, which features only one ping-pong table, was already experiencing supply problems. Not that the owners' livelihood depends on it. Go to Counter Espionage by Chris Shott. No Contract for $59 M. Guccione Mansion, But 'The Conservative American Loves It' The brashest mansion in Manhattan, a nearly 20,000-square-foot Beaux-Arts townhouse that belonged to porn magnate Bob Guccione before his money woes, has entered its 13th month on the market. N.F.L. Commish, FOX News Anchor Hike 7-Room Co-Op for $2.72 M. Heartbreakingly, the Upper East Side has lost one of its all-American families: Roger Goodell, the new commissioner of the National Football League, and wife Jane Skinner, a brunette Fox News daytime anchoress (plus their twin daughters). The pedigree family sold its seven-room co-op at 180 East End Avenue late last month for $2.725 million. Go to Manhattan Transfers by Max Abelson. Mixing Legal and Liquor Join Noreen Healy, the only commissioner from the city on the State Liquor Authority, for a crawl through Manhattan's nightlife scene. She'll have an Amstel Light. Go to The Sit-Down by Chris Shott. Quarterly Figures Defy Dour Predictions "Dropped" remains a relative term in a Manhattan housing market that has apparently started 2007 with a bang, with just about every other sales-market barometer even more favorable to apartment sellers (and their brokers). Go to The Lab by Tom Acitelli. Buh-bye, Beige! Spring is here, sigh, a leaf trembles. If you're going to throw everything out the window and repaint top to bottom--which New Yorkers often do because they have so much time on their hands--what color is the color of the moment? Go to Interiors by Toni Schlesinger. The Times Machine Nobody at The New York Times seems to be able to talk about the paper's new building without talking about the future of the newspaper--or rather, the future of the news organization. Go to Off The Record by Michael Calderone. A Week in New York Real Estate Madonna's coming back! The Queen of Pop will be touring 179 Ludlow Street on the Lower East Side next week where she hopes to develop a three-floor kabbalah center. Go to Deeds and Deals.

Broadway Partners is looking for some money-men to help pay for its $5 billion portfolio buy from Beacon Capital Partners, which includes 237 Park Avenue and 100 Wall Street. The Observer reported the purchase last week.

The leading candidates are the usual suspects. Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, RBS Greenwich Capital and Wachovia are all in contention, reports Paul Fiorilla of the Commercial Mortage Alert.

Mr. Fiorilla also offers an analysis worth reading:

Broadway might seek to flip some of the 15 properties, as it did in the previous deal with Beacon. Broadway's third vehicle comes right on the heels of its second fund, which closed in December with $590 million of equity. Broadway's two-month turnaround may be unprecedented. Gaps between fund-raising campaigns are usually at least six months and often a year or longer.

The piece is a month old, but it's fun in a wonky, finance way. The piece is after the jump.  read more »

- John Koblin

Is there anything more active than Scott Lawlor’s Broadway Partners?    read more »

Now Mort Zuckerman will have to write his monthly rent checks to a rival.    read more »