THE National Basketball Association may be trying to bounce back to the Big Apple.

We’ve learned that the league is scouting locations through Barry Gosin and Moshe Sukenik at Newmark Knight Frank. A company spokeswoman declined comment.

In 2001, we told you the NBA was trying to cut a deal to become the anchor tenant for a new tower on Ninth Avenue, in which the league would consolidate its Olympic Towers office at 645 Fifth Ave. with its larger, Secaucus, N.J., office, bringing the jobs to the city. But the pre-9/11 city balked at big tax breaks and the NBA dug into Jersey.

According to CoStar Group data, the NBA currently has about 162,415 feet overlooking St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Olympic Tower, plus its giant NBA store up the block at 666 Fifth Ave.

Its Olympic Tower lease expires on July 1, 2010, as does a new sublease for 18,273 at 477 Madison Ave. In Secaucus, its lease for 218,560 feet at 450 Harmon Meadow Rd. ends on June 21, 2011.

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The current credit crunch will now be tested by three trophy offerings going for more than $1,000 a foot.

The rosy granite building at 31 W. 52nd St. was quietly put on the market by Deutsche Bank and is expected to fetch over $800 million. Sitting between Black Rock and the Paley Center for Media, sources tell us it’s been re-measured from 660,000 feet to over 800,000 feet.

It was designed by architects Roche, Dinkeloo & Associates in 1984 as the EF Hutton Building and is now home to the American Craft Museum and Clifford Chance. Jones Lang LaSalle has been hired to aid marketing.

Meanwhile, Paramount Group is trying to sell 1177 Avenue of the Americas. The marketing of that 1-million square footer was launched by Douglas Harmon at Eastdil Secured for what is expected to be north of $1 billion.

And last week, Citigroup said it hoped to secure $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion for a sale and 13-year leaseback of its signature TriBeCa tower at 388 Greenwich St., along with the adjoining low rise at 390 Greenwich.

Cushman & Wakefield is handling the marketing for the deal, which includes Citi’s desire for the right to exit 15 percent of the tower space in years eight, nine, 11 and 12. That could provide upside for the next owners.

Make no mistake, these deals will be bellwethers for the financing regime that requires more equity down and greater returns for the winners and their financiers.

But capital market watchers report that overseas investors think the city is cheap because currency exchanges are so advantageous.

Already, $42.4 billion has closed or is under contract this year, Cushman & Wakefield reported, exceeding the $34.7 billion for 2006.

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Commercial Mortgage Alert reports that Scott Lawlor‘s Broadway Partners will have to jiggle finances next year on properties that locally include 237 Park Ave. and 100 Wall St.

Meanwhile, wags are waiting to see how Harry “Houdini” Macklowe finances his way out of his portfolio predicaments.

All summer, potential buyers were unofficially kicking bricks but his organization consistently denied anything is for sale.

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Rama Bassalali of RMB Properties handled all facets of the multi-year, off-market sale of the northwest corner of 46th Street and Eighth Avenue to TriBeach Holdings in three deals totaling $80 million. They want to construct a hotel and perhaps condos on top.

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The Covenant House building at 346 W. 17th St. was just sold to the Hampshire Hotels empire for $70 million.

The 11-story building with 181,484 feet runs through the block to 16th Street and sits between Eighth and Ninth avenues.

The soon-to-be-hotel was designed in 1966 for the National Maritime Union by Albert C. Ledner, a New Orleans-based architect. It’s right next to the tony Maritime Hotel.

Casey Cutler of Besen & Associates brought in the purchaser, while Greenwich Group International advised the sellers.

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Cushman & Wakefield stats now show that Class A rents along Fifth and Madison avenues in Midtown are averaging $104.69 a foot – up 30.6 percent since this time last year.

Two deals at 666 Fifth Ave. are in that mix. Hedge fund Millennium Partners added 39,000 feet on the ninth floor to total 150,000 feet. The 12-year lease had no outside broker.

For its first city offices, Chicago-based investment bank William Blair & Co. leased 6,200 feet on the 14th floor for the next seven years. Blair was brought in by David Kleiner and Andrew Flint of Jones Lang LaSalle.

TSP’s Gregory Conen represented the owner Kushner Companies on both deals.

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Just asking: Who is going to rent to the Hawaiian coffee chain Bad Ass Coffee and have that sign on their building? The java company is seeking willing owners through Winick Realty.

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To clarify, The LeFrak Organization developed and owns 40 W. 57th St. by itself, but owns 50 W. 57th St. with Vornado.

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