[NYguy]

This could only be good news for several Manhattan developments...


http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/re...ity_stylist_on_th_IlFEL2fbjASdlsu3McsbhI

By LOIS WEISS
April 6, 2011

It looks like the trend lines are sweeping upward into positive absorption and increases in both asking rents and net effective rents.

At its quarterly press breakfast at Michael's yesterday morning, Cushman & Wakefield execs said 7.6 million feet have already been leased in the first quarter of 2011.

"The question is whether you can sustain 2.5 million square feet a month [of leasing] or is it leveling off?" said COO Joe Harbert.

The leasing activity has already bumped the vacancy rate down to 10 percent from 10.5 percent at the end of December and 11.6 percent just one year ago.

As rents are starting to rise with the drop in vacancy, Harbert said, they are seeing a deal signed "north of $100 per foot" every week in the better Plaza District buildings.

And, if you are a 500,000-foot gorilla tenant, there are only three Midtown spots open.

That's one reason developers like Boston Properties, the Related Cos. and Vornado Realty Trust are pushing prospective developments, and Silverstein Properties and the Durst Organization are touting the already-in-construction World Trade Center buildings.

As for investment properties, at Monday's National Realty Club luncheon at the Friars Club, Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan of CB Richard Ellis said there is "huge" demand from equity investors, primarily for Midtown properties.

"The market is defined by a lack of quality product to satisfy investor demand," said Shanahan, who recommended seeking out value trades Downtown.

...At yesterday's Real Estate Board of New York luncheon at the Hilton, Andrew Ackerman, a leasing associate with Vornado Realty Trust, was chosen as the Most Promising Commercial Salesperson of the Year.

Ackerman read a prepared speech and managed to thank everyone in the company except Chairman Steve Roth, who took note of the omission as soon as he was seated at the speakers table.

"It would have been much more career-enhancing if he had thanked me," quipped Roth to laughter from the industry crowd.

Roth, who was in rare form, said they are "trolling" for a tenant for 15 Penn Plaza.

"Thanks to an adjacent tower, we have the most famous unbuilt building in America," Roth said, alluding to the neighboring Empire State Building's owners, who had complained the new tower would destroy the city skyline.