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As seen in
August 7, 2002
Downtown Developers selling off 70 Broad
by LOIS WEISS
Not only has the Wall Street Kitchen
& Bar closed, as The Post first reported, but the former American
Bank Note building at 70 Broad St. is now for sale for $8.5
million.
SoHo instigator and Wall Street pioneer Tony Goldman bought
the empty shell in what we all thought were the Dark Days of
Downtown - little did we know.
Goldman scooped up the vacant shell in January 1995 for $1.085
million, and sank many more millions into a renovation that
created multiple levels of restaurant and party spaces. But
while the lunch bunch is still strong, he says folks are leaving
for home earlier and parties have pooped out.
"There is a great future for the area down there," said Goldman,
who still retains the Stone Street Tavern at 52 Stone St., as
well as other nearby properties that he intends to convert to
condominiums.
Eastdil is whittling down the big bidders this week. Today you
can up your ante for 685 Third Ave., while tomorrow is deadline
day for a second chance at trophy 717 Fifth Ave.
Two not-for-profit advisers - Liberal Party Chairman Martin
Begun and former Giuliani administration deputy mayor Fran Reiter
- are taking advantage of downtown incentives to rent 1,500
square feet on the eighth floor of the Woolworth Building for
the next five years.
"We got the best small space with light and views of City Hall
and the park," said Suzanne Sunshine, a 17-year veteran broker
who recently joined Time Equities.
Sunshine had a special "in" to snare the clients - Begun is
married to her mom, residential marketer to the developer stars
Louise Sunshine.
Meanwhile, Insignia/ESG has quietly been replaced by NAI/Lawrence
as the Woolworth Building agent, but is still pitching special
sublease spaces.
So Brian Siegel of NAI/Lawrence worked the under-$30-a-foot
deal on behalf of the Steve Witkoff-Ruby Schron ownership
group.
In another deal with political clout, Suzanne Sunshine brought
powerful lobbyist and consultant Tonio Burgos, former chief
of staff for then-Governor Mario Cuomo, a 3,233-square-foot
"fabulous furnished office" on the 15th floor of 115 Broadway.
Burgos, a member of the Transportation and Commuters Advisory
Council for the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., wanted the
sweeping views of Ground Zero and the proximity to City Hall.
The sublease from Cotelligent was handled by Newmark's Peter
Newman. Direct spaces in the restored gem, which is owned by
a company controlled by Paula Zahn's husband, Richard Cohen,
have asking rents ranging from $34.50 to $39 a foot.
Let's just say this small sublease space was rented for less
- a lot less.
"There have been great sublease deals
and more to be had," advised James Meiskin of Plymouth Partners,
who is currently pitching a handful of subleases in trophy Park
Avenue properties. "Some are priced 50 percent below direct-lease
opportunities in the same buildings."
Brokers are sworn not to advertise the actual prices - even
in industry data banks - but the building owners "cannot unreasonably
withhold" permission to sublease. Many will actually insist
on writing a longer, direct deal with the prospective tenant
sublessor, and let the prime tenant off the credit hook.
"Companies are trying to cut costs,
and [they] find their leasing costs are the second-largest line
item to payroll," said Meiskin. "So they are doing whatever
they can to reduce the costs, and subleasing space is one of
them."
The fight over how much Swiss Re has to pay to the Silverstein
group and the Port Authority for the World Trade Center ends
up in the lap of Judge Lewis Kaplan tomorrow, when he gets best
and final confidential settlement offers.
Swiss Re's U.S. Chairman, Jacques Dubois, told us he's ready
to write Silverstein a check for $500,000 - based on Swiss Re's
25 percent cut of a $2.4 billion settlement for the destruction
of the towers and two other buildings.
"If we were dealing with the daddy rabbit we would have an opportunity
to reach a resolution," said Dubois, whose company has been
running an ad campaign to beef up its good Apple citizen profile.
"If daddy were the city, we would be much more accommodating,"
he sniffed. "I sure as hell know that the daddy rabbit is not
Silverstein."
A spokesperson for the city-based family developer, which claims
the insurance companies still owe closer to $6.765 billion,
said, "If Mr. Dubois doesn't know who to talk to [to settle
the case], he can try talking to the people who paid the premiums
- the Silverstein investment group."
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