"We are dealing with a much different market than the same time as last year,” said John Parsegian, a senior vice president at Halstead Property who specializes in the luxury rental market.

Indeed. As rental market reports heap seemingly endless piles of bad news on an already jittery industry, it’s becoming clear that the economic woes of the past several months are going to affect every segment of what was, not all that long ago, a resilient and unstoppable Manhattan rental market.

The very nature of this financial crisis, with its origins in the well-heeled corridors of Wall Street investment banks, is likely to drive down rents across the board, but particularly in the ritzy doorman palaces around Central Park and other highly sought-after neighborhoods throughout Manhattan.  read more »

It was 10:30 on an overcast Monday in early November, and Kent Swig, one of New York’s biggest landlords, was sitting at a conference table in the chic seventh-floor offices of his 20-story building at 770 Lexington Avenue. The windows framed a dreary autumn morning on the Upper East Side.

Mr. Swig, 47, wore a dark suit and navy blue tie, printed with abstract orange flowers. The wrists of his French-cuff shirt were fastened with hand-carved wooden links. His face was reddened, as though from too much sun, his blond hair slightly receding. He had the aspect of a sportsman, but when he sat down, he seemed more like the hunted.  read more »

Halstead Property, fresh from launching an investment sales wing during one of the worst markets in living memory, announced this morning that it has launched a mini-TV site called Halstead ProperTV (get it?). The site, according to a release, aims to allow "users to not only experience a property listing, but also virtually meet brokers, tour neighborhoods and catch up on the latest news about the market, all from the comfort and convenience of their own homes."

Full release below and a link to the new TV site here:  read more »

In an absurdly ideal New York City, 13-room co-op spreads overlooking pretty Upper East Side blocks would be reserved for public school teachers and organ donors, but executives who have recently sold their power plant companies to Bear Stearns would politely be forced to live more modestly.

But that’s not the way things are. According to city records, Dean Vanech, whose New Jersey-based Delta Power Company was acquired by Bear Stearns subsidiary Arroyo Energy early last year, bought a five-bedroom apartment at 33 East 70th on the day before the election. He and his wife, Denise, paid $14.8 million.  read more »

]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/real-estate/energy-exec-who-traded-company-bear-stearns-buys-east-70th-co-op-14-8-m#comments Real Estate Bear Sterns Dean Vanech Delta Power Company energy Halstead Property Olympus Power Upper East Side Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:33:23 -0500 Max Abelson 78670 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/2008/real-estate/halstead-stakes-its-investment-sales-claim

Odd timing. That’s what New York investment brokers are saying about Halstead Property’s recently announced plans to open a commercial real estate investment arm during one of the worst markets in recent history.

“I don’t think it’s a great idea,” said an investment broker from a rival and well-established firm, which, though it has a good name and strong client relationships, has seen activity plummet. “We will crush them.”

Others were similarly dubious, though more diplomatic.

“If you’re selling in the $500,000 to $5 million range, if you’re doing very localized markets, like Main Street in Flushing and certain areas in Brooklyn, great,” said another broker.  read more »

Halstead Property cleaned up at Wednesday night's Real Estate Board of New York residential awards gala. Halstead brokers took first, second and third place in the sales category of the Residential Deal of the Year contest; the rookie of the year award; and the Henry Forster Award for charitable and cultural service.

First prize went to Dan Danielli. Norman Horowitz and Gary Friedland took second. And Judy Oston, Don Correia and Ruth Yeskel too third.

John Wollberg won the Henry Forster Award, and Ari Harkov took Residential Most Promising Rookie Salesperson of the Year.  read more »

The gentrification train keeps roaring its way up to Harlem and Morningside Heights, or should we say "SoCo."

Today Curbed posted two items that spell trouble or progress, depending on your point of view. W Hotel's parent company Starwood is building a branch of its new Aloft brand on Frederick Douglass Bpulevard and 124th Street. Aloft Harlem is slated to open in June 2010 next to an old carriage house that perhaps not coincidentally was long-rumored to be the site of a W hotel before it was recently converted to lofts.

And if the 125th Street rezoning, a luxury boutique hotel chain, and Columbia's expansion were not enough to seal upper Manhattan's fate, brokers have coined a pretentiously trendy name to attract young people to the nabe: "SoCo."  read more »

I decided to do a little recreational house-hunting on Sunday afternoon to see if the Manhattan housing market is really as resilient as it's cracked up to be.

My experience hunting for a rental apartment downtown in August had been thoroughly depressing—I did not see a single inhabitable apartment for under $3,000 a month and even then, the choice was between living in a shoebox or in a grungy, amenity-free condo. After reading all the 2007 year-end market reports released by the brokerage firms during the past few weeks, I braced myself for the house-hunting malaise familiar to most New Yorkers. But it never came.  read more »

The Real Estate Board of New York threw its annual awards gala for residential brokers on Thursday night. We weren't invited, and we don't why.

But Halstead Property sent us a release about how the brokerage cleaned up:

• Dean Feldman and Edith K. Meyer, West Side brokers, won the top Deal of the Year Award.
• Linda VanderWoude, a Brooklyn agent, finished second.
• Halstead President Diane Ramirez received the Henry Forster Award, which honors not only professional achivement, but ethical conduct and charitable efforts.

 read more »