RPG recently represented Ken Smith Landscape Architects in their purchase of an 11,800 square foot office condominium at 450 West 31st Street. The Daily News recently ran an article about Ken’s experiences in purchasing and the trend towards office ownership for small businesses.
The New York Times recently ran a story featuring Rudder Property Group on the increased demand for office condominiums in New York.
Rudder Property Group recently completed a $2,750,000 sale of a half floor office condo at 110 East 40th Street for Iluna USA.
Iluna USA, whose parent company is based on Milan, is a designer and manufacturer of women’s intimate apparel. Iluna was founded in 1975 and now has over 360 employees in 17 offices worldwide.
On February 17, 2011 the law firm of Herrick, Feinstein LLP hosted an office condominium seminar which featured Michael Rudder as a panelist:
Office Condos: New York Real Estate’s Next Big Thing?
New York’s office condominium market is a small, but growing sector. In 2011, demand should continue to be strong from foreign businesses that favor ownership over renting, non-profits, governments, and others who want to lock in the long term benefits of ownership. These long term benefits include equity growth, fixed costs, and potential capital appreciation, among others.
At the same time, available product may increase as thoughtful owners analyze the demand and consider the financial advantages of converting and selling parts of their buildings as commercial condos.
Finally, new FASB rules regarding lease accounting are in the works. Starting in 2013, these rules will require rent payments to be recorded as a balance sheet liability — a change which will make office condominium ownership even more appealing.
Panelists included:
Michael Rudder, Principal, Rudder Property Group
Miriam Harris, Senior Vice President, NYC Economic Development Corporation
Douglas Heller, Partner, Herrick, Feinstein LLP
Joseph Hilton, Senior Managing Director, Grubb & Ellis New York, Inc.
Aaron Kaiser, Partner, EisnerAmper LLP
Real Estate Bisnow recently featured the event in their newsletter:
www.bisnow.com/new_york_commercial_real_estate_news_story.php?p=13315
A great explanation of loss factor and how to measure space.
A new company, TitleVest Agency Inc., has put over 2,000 offering plans and amendments for New York City condos and co-ops online. This is a great idea that will not only make it easier and cheaper for buyers and their lawyers to read and search through plans, it will also save many trees from being destroyed. I have been posting my office condo plans online for years. One of the keys to a successful condominium sales campaign is transparency of information. Buyer’s are more trusting if their due diligence process goes smoothly.
Lois Weiss from the NY Post wrote a nice article discussing the demand for office condominiums in New York.
It was an honor and a pleasure to serve as the 2010 Treasurer on the Board of Governors for the Young Men’s and Women’s Real Estate Association. We had a year of incredible events, like kayaking around the city and serving turkeys to the hungry in Queens on Thanksgiving. We had distinguished monthly luncheon speakers like Bill Ackman from Pershing Square, Mary Ann Tighe from CBRE, and Dino Fusco from Goldman Sachs. For the first time in many years we raised enough money to put some back in our coffers. My role as treasurer was a tremendous amount of work but very rewarding.
