June 27, 2008 by jack petrie.

Online Ad Network Expands on West 31st Street

Collective Media LLC, an online advertising network and technology provider, has taken an additional 5,250 rentable square feet (”rsf”) on the 6th Floor at 254 West 31st Street. The expansion brings Collective’s total space in the building to 9,850 rsf, as it already occupies space on the 12th Floor. Michael Smith and Jack Petrie of CresaPartners represented the tenant in the lease negotiations.

Strategic Acquisition of Personifi

“Collective Media has been steadily growing and has recently made a strategic acquisition of Personifi, so they definitely needed to expand,” said Mike Smith, SVP of CresaPartners. “This space was ideal because it was in move-in condition, with furniture and phones and available immediately. The expansion space also enabled the tenant to remain in the same location, conveniently located directly across from Madison Square Garden and Penn Station.”

According to Jack Petrie, SVP of CresaPartners, “New York City is an excellent place for technology startups, like Collective Media, to recruit talent, and we have helped many of them locate offices that fit their business models, budgets and cultures.”

CresaPartners’ Technology Resume

In addition to Collective Media, CresaPartners has represented several venture capital-backed technology firms such as 3PAR, Acxiom, Buddy Media, Datran Media, Gorilla Nation, Light Reading and PixFusion. The firm has also worked with major tech behemoths such as Amazon.com, Electronic Arts, EMC, Interactive Corporation, Oracle and Symantec.

About Collective Media

Collective Media is a leading online advertising network specializing in audience targeting and optimization solutions to increase relevancy and yield for both publishers and advertisers, reaching 79 million unique users monthly. Collective offers the largest network of online news sites including The Associated Press, Gannett, Tribune, Belo Interactive, Hearst Newspapers and NBC Universal. Founded in 2005, Collective is privately held and headquartered in New York City. Investors include Greycroft Partners and iNovia Capital.

About 254 West 31st Street

254 West 31st Street is a 59,660 rsf building located directly south of Madison Square Garden between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. Tenants include TruisiSuk Architecture and Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding.

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June 24, 2008 by jack petrie.

Valuation Firm Moves to 44 Montgomery Street

American Appraisal, a large, independent valuation-related advisory services firm has relocated its San Francisco offices to 44 Montgomery Street. The firm’s offices were previously located at 595 Market Street, San Francisco.

Global Firm with Milwaukee Headquarters

American Appraisal, founded in 1896, has offices in fifty international cities including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Princeton and Washington, D.C. The firm is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Former Wells Fargo Headquarters

44 Montgomery is a 43-story, Class ‘A’ office tower consisting of 622,219 rentable square feet. Located in the downtown San Francisco Central Business District, 44 Montgomery was built in 1966-1967, completely renovated in 1992, and updated again in 1996. 44 Montgomery was originally the World Headquarters for Wells Fargo Bank and the tallest building west of the Mississippi when constructed.

44 Montgomery Street was represented in the negotiations by Erik Pentland of Seagate Properties. American Appraisal was represented by Jack Petrie and David Lambert of CresaPartners.

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June 24, 2008 by jack petrie.

The Other Real Estate Merger

CresaPartners, the nation’s leading corporate real estate advisory firm that exclusively represents tenants, and Horizon LLC, a solutions-based real estate consultancy, have joined together to provide strategic planning and facilities consulting to tenants in the New York region and nationwide.

Providing Clients a Competitive Advantage

Together, CresaPartners and Horizon form a best-in-class integrated services team, delivering comprehensive real estate solutions for the cost-conscious tenant. “Bringing our two teams together strengthens CresaPartners’ existing strategic planning and facilities consulting capabilities,” said Bill Goade, CEO of CresaPartners. “It also creates a significant competitive advantage for our current and future clients in a market that shows no signs of softening.”

Stellar Services and Client List

CresaPartners Integrated Services include: conducting pre-planning strategies and assessments; providing program management, project management and leadership support; strengthening tools, processes and methodologies; and delivering outsourced services and operations support. Keith Keppler and Kent Holliday, former principals of Horizon, will serve as principals of CresaPartners. Both have extensive national real estate consulting expertise and have worked with such prestigious companies as Genentech, AIG, GlaxoSmithKline and Amgen, to name a few.

Shared Client-Centric Values

“The ability to provide our national clients with a local presence was a key factor in our decision to join CresaPartners,” said Mr. Holliday. “CresaPartners is a natural fit for us because we share a common set of values, complementary service offerings and a client-centric culture.”

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June 24, 2008 by jack petrie.

$613 Million Industry Consolidation

With the recent announcement of the merger between Jones Lang LaSalle and The Staubach Company, CresaPartners becomes the largest North American, pure tenant advisory firm in terms of people and locations.

When asked what the impact will be in NYC on the market and the corporate tenant, I have been offering the following points:

• The JLL/Staubach merger is disadvantageous for the corporate real estate consumer because it means one less pure tenant advisory firm in the marketplace;
• The merger makes CresaPartners the tenant rep firm with the largest reach in North America. CresaPartners also has the most employees in the tenant representation model;
• This type of merger is not a surprise as consolidation has been a trend in the real estate industry for several years already;
• CresaPartners steadfastly believes in its partnership model and will remain independent despite industry trends;
• The merger provides CresaPartners with an excellent recruiting opportunity. We will be reaching out to and open to hiring experienced advisors who are committed to the pure tenant representation model.

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June 18, 2008 by jack petrie.

Square 1 Bank, a Durham, N.C.–based financial services firm, has recently signed a seven-year lease for office space at 424 Madison Avenue, NYC, 10017. The Madison Avenue location is Square 1 Bank’s tenth location, joining branches in Austin, TX; Boulder, CO; Durham, NC; East Palo Alto, Los Angeles and San Diego, CA; McLean, VA; Seattle, WA and Waltham, MA. Square 1 Bank was represented in the transaction by Jack Petrie of CresaPartners.

About Square 1 Bank

In 2004, CEO Richard Casey sat down at his kitchen table with a few of his closest associates for a little entrepreneurial discussion. This discussion turned into planning sessions, and those planning sessions set the stage for the Square 1 Bank dream to become reality. On August 8, 2005, with many long hours logged at that same kitchen table, the doors to the first six Square 1 Bank offices opened for business. A little over a year later in October 2006, Square 1 reached profitability and surpassed their client goal by 38%. Today, Square 1 Bank has four additional offices, has reached a billion dollars in assets, and accumulated $352 million in loans and $898 million in deposits.

About 424 Madison Avenue

424 Madison Avenue located between 48th and 49th Streets is a 75,000 square foot office building constructed in 1926. It is currently owned by BLDG Management Company, Inc. and is currently 97.4% leased. Major tenants include North Fork Bank and the World Gold Council.

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June 18, 2008 by jack petrie.

First Quarter 2008 Market Update

Tenant’s Viewpoint

Asking rents are expected to remain flat over the next few quarters. More sublease space will come on the market and landlords will be more reluctant to exercise their recapture rights. Recent economic events have produced sufficient uncertainty to change landlords’ attitudes towards deal making. Incentives to tenants are on the rise and landlords will increasingly be motivated to get a transaction done. This is welcome news for tenants with requirements over the next 2-3 years. There is a window of opportunity that tenants should be looking to take advantage of.

Market Overview

The level of unease in the New York City office market is increasing in light of the layoffs on Wall Street and the recent collapse of Bear Stearns. Further job losses are expected and this will check the demand for space and put more sublease space on the market. Tenants are rethinking their plans and, in some cases, are withdrawing from transactions or major commitments. However, the statistics are slow to react: Class A space vacancy in Midtown increased only slightly whereas Class A space vacancies in Midtown South and Downtown actually decreased in Q1. There were negative absorptions in all submarkets except Midtown South and Downtown.

Trends & Statistics

Midtown
Midtown Class A vacancy rates increased from 4.5% to 4.7% in the last quarter. Asking rents for Class A space continued to increase to $84.46 per rentable square feet (rsf). Vacancy in Class B midtown space increased from 3.9% to 4.3%, with asking rents barely increasing from $53.81/rsf to $53.97/rsf. Q1 2008 net absorption was -355,632 rsf for Class A space, the first negative absorption in quite some time. Class B absorption was -258,529 rsf.

Midtown South (Class A & B)
Q1 vacancy decreased nominally from 4.0 to 3.6% from Q4, with asking rents increasing $0.41/rsf (0.8%) to $54.26/rsf. Net absorption in Midtown South was still low at 9,822 rsf, a reflection on extremely limited availability in the submarket and lower activity in light of current economic conditions.

Downtown
Class A vacancy dropped by 11.3% from 5.3% in Q4 to 4.7% in Q1, with asking rents increasing slightly ($0.48/rsf) to $52.94/rsf. Class B vacancy increased marginally in Q1 2008 to 10.1% from 9.0% in Q4, but asking rents climbed at a slower pace than the prior quarter — only 1.5% to reach $47.41/rsf.

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