Philip Blumberg’s blog

Largest Manhattan Office Deal for 2009

2009-12-31T00:48:46Z

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP closed on a deal this past week to renew and expand its current lease at 1285 Avenue of the Americas, also known as the PaineWebber Building, keeping the international law firm in a 15-year lease for ...

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AFI USA Completes $267M Refinancing of Times Square Building

2009-12-29T15:32:19Z

Africa Israel USA (AFI USA) has come to a settlement with its lenders and completed the recapitalization and restructuring of the debt on the Times Square Building according to a CoStar report. The refinancing allows AFI USA to move forward wit...

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UBS on the Hunt for New York Space

2009-12-28T14:52:34Z

Bloomberg is reporting that UBS AG is looking to secure as much as 800,000 square feet of NYC-area office space, a timely move as rental rates for Class A offices in Midtown fell 25 percent from November 2008 to November 2009 according to Collier...

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Failed Bank Loans Pique Bid Interest

2009-12-24T14:01:24Z

According to a Wall Street Journal article more than a dozen investors have submitted bids to the FDIC to buy a $1.1 billion package of CRE loans extended by failed banks, including loans held by Franklin Bank, IndyMac Bank and other failed lend...

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Bay Area Office Vacancy at 5 Year High

2009-12-23T11:34:31Z

According to NAI BT Commercial the San Francisco commercial vacancy rate is at 15.3%, up from 10.2% in 2007. Though this doesn't match the 20% vacancy rate seen in 2002 after the dot-com bubble burst, industry experts in a Wall Street Journal ar...

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Intuit to Sell Intuit Real Estate Solutions

2009-12-22T14:24:14Z

Intuit Inc. has signed an agreement to sell Intuit Real Estate Solutions (IRES) to Vista Equity Partners for approximately $128 million in cash. IRES, formerly known as Management Reports, Inc., is part of Intuit’s global business division and i...

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Moodys/CPPI Numbers Down

2009-12-22T01:37:52Z

The Moody’s/REAL Commercial Property Price Indices fell 1.5% in October from September, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. This is the lowest seen since since August 2002 with prices down 36% from the same time last year. The November 25 r...

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Lantana Entertainment Media Campus Sold to Lionstone

2009-12-18T14:51:31Z

The Lionstone Group, a Houston-based private real estate investment firm, has purchased the Lantana Entertainment Media Campus in Santa Monica from Maguire Properties according to a CoStar article. Lionstone purchased the campus as part of its ...

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Northern California's Moffett Towers Lands First Tenant

2009-12-17T06:09:58Z

Sunnyvale's long-vacant office complex, Moffett Towers, has finally signed its first occupant. According to the Silicon Valley Business Journal, chip maker Rambus will move 300 employees into 130,000 sq ft across several floors in one of the sev...

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Facebook Leases More Office Space in Palo Alto

2009-12-16T13:54:55Z

As social-networking giant Facebook continues to expand its reach across the globe, they are filling up Palo Alto office buildings nearly as quickly. Earlier this year, Facebook moved its nearly 900 employees to a 150,000 sq ft building located...

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