August 8, 2008 by jack petrie.

The Office & Professional Employees Union, (“OPEIU”) Local AFL-CIO 153 recently renewed its lease at 80 Eighth Avenue a.k.a. 265 West 14^th Street for an additional ten (10) years. The union has continuously occupied the entire 6^th floor of this property for over fifty years. OPEIU was represented by Jack Petrie of CresaPartners in the lease negotiations.

About 80 Eighth Avenue

80 Eighth Avenue is 1920’s vintage Art Deco building with a detailed facade and ornate marble interior. The property is located on the Northeast corner of 14^th Street and Eighth Avenue, directly over the subway entrance to the A, C, E & L lines. Asking rents are currently $50 per rentable square foot (“rsf”). The building houses several other trade unions including Teamsters Joint Council 16, International Brotherhood Local 72 and Local Unions 858 & 1974.

Trendy Meatpacking Neighborhood

The neighborhood, known as the “Meatpacking” district, has seen rapidly rising rents and low vacancies over the last several years. In 2005, Google leased 300,000 rsf of office space at 111 Eighth Avenue, the former Port Authority Building, currently one of the premier data center locations in Manhattan. Google has also recently expanded its operations into 75 Ninth Avenue, The Chelsea Market, another destination property within the district.

Origins of the Professional Employees Union

In 1906 Local 1 in Indianapolis received the first clerical federal charter issued by the AFL (American Federation of Labor) representing a union for Stenographers, Typists, Bookkeepers and Assistants. However, not until the Wagner Act of 1935 did office worker organizing gain momentum. This critical legislation, which gave workers collective bargaining and organizing rights, propelled thousands of clerical employees into action. Dozens of clerical union charters were formed during this time. In 1936 Mollie Levitas presented the first resolution calling for an international union of office workers at the AFL convention in Tampa. Nine years later the AFL issued a charter to Office Employees International Union (OEIU), with 22,000 members strong, at a convention in Cincinnati.

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July 3, 2008 by jack petrie.

Media Buying 2.0

The July 23rd, 2008 iBreakfast will present Media Buying 2.0, a look at emerging trends in digital media. With the rise of new technologies, better targeting and newmarketing channels, the tides of media buying are changing. Media is more
intelligent and available in more varieties. Even television advertising is undergoing significant changes. What are the top agencies doing to take advantage of these new technologies and trends? Find out on July 23rd.

Introducing a New Host

Richie Hecker, will moderate the panel discussion, assisting Alan Brody, who has embarked on a book tour to promote his amazing new book and music project, White Shaka Boy (press release and articles to follow). Speakers will include Morpheus Media’s Adam Broitman and Ogilvy Interactive’s Benjamin Ezrick.

Renowned Speaker Lineup

Adam Broitman, Director of Emerging and Creative Strategy at Morpheus Media
Adam keeps his finger on the pulse of emerging media channels in order to devise creative strategies that leverage technology and add value to brand initiatives. He’s a freelance writer/speaker for iMedia Connection and authors the media blog, amediacirc.us. Adam holds a B.A, in English from Queens College as well as an M.A. in Media Studies and a certificate in media management from The New School
University.

Benjamin Ezrick, Sr. Strategist, Digital Innovation at Ogilvy Interactive
Benjamin Ezrick is responsible for the application of emerging technologies, such as gaming, mobile and advanced television at Ogilvy Interactive. He is determined to deliver television advertisers the measurability and accountability that they have found online. In a first for the industry,Benjamin managed a television campaign implemented, tracked and optimized over the Internet. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in International Relations.

About the Corporate Sponsors

ContextWeb
ContextWeb, Inc. provides high-precision, real-time contextual advertising solutions guaranteed to maximize the results and impact of online advertising. ContextWeb’s patent-pending technology is the industry’s only real-time and fully-automated solution that can serve contextually relevant advertisements to the most motivated potential customer in as little as 20 milliseconds. ContextWeb was founded in 2000 and is based in New York.

CresaPartners
CresaPartners LLC is an international corporate real estate advisory firm that exclusively represents tenants/space users and specializes in the delivery of fully integrated real estate services. The firm is headquartered in Boston and provides service in 35 countries and more than 125 cities. CresaPartners’ mission is to provide customized solutions exclusively for tenants/corporate space users by offering fully integrated services that align their real estate with their business plans, delivering maximum cost savings and exceeding expectations.

The Deal - Tech Confidential
The Tech Confidential Network unites the leading voices from around the Internet on the topics of high-tech startups, venture capital and investment exits. Bloggers and publishers that want to expand their readership and monetize their content are encouraged to apply to join the Tech Confidential Network.

LiveAdMaker
LiveAdMaker is an end-to-end technology that builds entire marketing campaigns across all forms of media in a series of simple selections and then delivers the ads to market in record time. Everyday, leading brands such as Intel, Sprint, AARP, GM and Century 21 all rely on LiveAdMaker to create and deliver thousands of ads to market.

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July 3, 2008 by jack petrie.

Second Quarter 2008 Market Update

Tenant’s Viewpoint

We expect the market to continue to soften over the next 12-18 months as more space is placed on the market for sublease and landlords will be far less likely to recapture space. This competition will ultimately affect landlords as they struggle to keep tenants who are willing to relocate. For those tenants looking at renewal alternatives, this period of unrest could present a significant opportunity. Tenants should do their planning early to prepare them for opportunities as they arise.

Market Overview

The commercial real estate market is showing the initial signs of weakening as economic news remains negative. Landlords continue to maintain high asking rents, but we are beginning to see greater concessions and more negotiability in lease transactions. Significant amounts of sublease space are expected to be put on the market. In the Grand Central area alone, we can identify over 1,000,000 rentable square feet (”rsf”) which will come to market shortly. This large addition of inventory will have a ripple effect throughout the midtown market and beyond. Vacancy rates have increased slightly in all areas except Downtown class B which improved marginally.

Trends & Statistics

Midtown
Midtown Class A vacancy rates increased from 4.7% to 5.0% in the last quarter. Asking rents for class A remained relatively flat at $84.11/rsf. Midtown Class B vacancy increased slightly to 4.5%, with a slight reduction in asking rents to $53.17/rsf. Q1 net absorption was negative for both Class A (-505,027 s.f.) and Class B (-186,695 s.f.)

Midtown South (Class A & B)
Vacancy of combined Class A and B space increased for the first time to 4.4% with asking rents remaining relatively flat at $54.41/rsf. For the first time in a long period, net absorption in midtown south was negative (-115,025 s.f.)

Downtown
Class A vacancy increased from 4.7% to 5.9% with a slight reduction in asking rents from $52.94/rsf to $52.62/rsf. Negative Net absorption for the second quarter was relatively high at -663,753 s.f. Class B experienced a slight drop in vacancy from 10.1% to 10% and an increase in asking rents from $47.41/rsf to $48.36/rsf. Downtown Class B was the only submarket with positive absorption for the quarter (54,269 rsf.)

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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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February 14, 2008 by jack petrie.

Fourth Quarter 2007 Market Overview

Tenant’s Viewpoint

Continuing uncertainty in the financial markets coupled with announcements of job cutbacks have quelled the surge that commercial real estate experienced over the last year. We expect this pause to continue through 2008 as the financial services industry continues to write down losses from the credit crisis. Tenants contemplating renewal or relocation should consider taking advantage of this window of opportunity before the uncertainty stabilizes and landlords and sublandlords regain their market bullishness.

Market Overview

The tide of sentiment about the strength of the New York City Office Market has ebbed even though the statistics remain strong. As more reports of job losses are published, we would expect to see this trend in confidence continue. Class A space in Midtown remains strong with a vacancy rate of 4.5%. Class A space in Midtown South and Downtown are also showing no signs of weakening, due to limited supply. The big winner in 2007 on absorption was Downtown Class A space which reduced its vacancy by almost half, absorbing 3.2 million rentable square feet (”rsf”) in comparison to 2.7 million rsf in midtown Class A space. Overall, there now appears to be less competition for space, and we see the first signs of landlords being more negotiable.

Trends & Statistics

Midtown
Midtown Class A vacancy rates decreased from 5% to 4.5% in the last quarter. Asking rents for Class A space continue to increase, now $83.32 per rsf. Vacancy in Class B midtown space improved to a new low of 3.9% from 4%, with asking rents decreasing slightly from $54.95 to $53.81 per rsf. Since Q4 2006, Class A vacancy rates have decreased 13.46% (from 5.2% to 4.5%) and the average asking rent has increased by $15.87 per rsf or 23.53%. Class B vacancy decreased nominally from 4% in Q4 2006 to 3.9% and asking rents increased $11.04 per rsf (or 25.81%). Q4 2007 Net absorption was 927,873 rsf for Class A space, almost 70% higher than Q3 2007. Class B absorption did an “about face” with positive absorption of 282,572 rsf (compared to the previous quarter which had negative absorption of 211,951 rsf).

Midtown South (Class A & B)
Q4 vacancy increased once again nominally from 3.8 to 4% from Q3, with asking rents increasing by another $4.99 per rsf (or 10.21%) to $53.85 per rsf. A year ago (Q4 2006), vacancy was 20% higher at 5%. Asking rents in the same period increased $13.80 per rsf or by 34.46%. Midtown South has continued to remain tight in light of the premium cost of space in Midtown. Net absorption in Midtown South in Q4 was quite low at 29,585 rsf, a reflection on the very limited availability in the submarket.

Downtown
Class A vacancy reduced by 10.17% from 5.9% in Q3 to 5.3% in Q4, with asking rents increasing only slightly ($o.98 per rsf) to $52.46 per rsf. Class B vacancy increased marginally in Q4 2007 to 9% from 8.3% in Q3, but asking rents continued to climb by 6.45% to $46.71 per rsf. A year ago, Class A Vacancy was 10.3%, and class B was 10%. Asking rents were $45.27 per rsf and $36.38 per rsf, respectively. This shows a massive 48.54% reduction in vacancy for class A (10% for class B) and an increase of 15.88% (Class A) and 28.39% (Class B) in asking rents.

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