‘SURVIVOR’? TRY ‘VICTOR’
ON this 16th year of commemorating the horror and heroism of 9/11, all’s well on the Manhattan office scene — an outcome that seemed impossible following the terrorist attack that killed 2,996, wiped out 14 million square feet of prime space and chased companies out of town.
CBRE’s latest MarketView Snapshot finds positive absorption for the third straight month; total leasing of 2.75 million square feet in August, well above the five-year monthly average of 2.19 million; and healthy average asking rent of $73.86 per square foot.
We’ll add that dealmaking is percolating at the three largest development complexes — Related Co.’s Hudson Yards, Brookfield’s Manhattan West, and the World Trade Center (owned by Silverstein Properties, the Port Authority and the Durst Organization). SL Green’s mighty One Vanderbilt has begun its epic rise next to Grand Central Terminal.
In the past few weeks, we’ve reported on a couple of potential mega-moves in the serious talking and trading paper stages: Pfizer to Tishman Speyer’s The Spiral, and Deutsche Bank to either Two World Trade Center or 50 Hudson Yards.
As we wait on their outcomes, let’s pause for a reality check on Manhattan’s most maligned commercial market — restaurant leasing.
As we first reported Monday on nypost.com, legendary Sparks Steak House at 210 E. 46th St. signed a new, 15-year lease with its landlord, the Durst Organization. The deal defied predictions that the half-century-old institution would end up as dead as mobster Paul Castellano, who was gunned down on the sidewalk outside on Dec. 16, 1985.
There’s no word on terms, but a source estimated the nearly 23,000square-foot space went for more than 40 percent higher than its old lease — but nowhere near the 100 percent hike that Sparks owner
Michael Cetta told The Post he was facing.
Some media sages and restaurateurs try so hard to demonize landlords, it seems as though they
want places to fail. Since we often read that “nobody can afford to open in Manhattan anymore,” consider a couple of openings that obviously must be mere figments of their owners’ imaginations:
For one, Top Parisian pastry chef Philippe
Conticini is launching his first New York café — a French-Japanese spot, La Maison de Makato, at 37 Barrow St. at the corner of Seventh Avenue South in the West Village. The multilevel space totals 3,000 square feet and boasts 40 feet of sidewalk frontage.
Eastern Consolidated principal James Famu
laro and his firm’s Jeff Geoghegan represented the landlord, Goldberg Group. Eastern consolidated’s Ravi Idnani repped the tenant. The asking rent was $200 per square foot. Meanwhile, the team behind popular downtown counter-service hot spot LES Kitchen plan to launch Confidant at 89 Greenwich Ave. between BBank and West 12th streets. Owners Henry Wong, David Chen and Christopher Wong are taking 1,500 square feet. The venue on the heavily trafficked block also includes sidewalk seating. Douglas Elliman retail chairman Faith Hope
Consolo repped the building ownership, while Sinvin Real Estate acted for the tenant. The asking rent for the 15-year lease was $245 per square foot, Consolo said.