WITH most commercial sales unable to get financing, and development stalled for the same reason, brokerages and title companies have been shedding staff.
And now developers are starting to make similar moves.
Tishman Speyer Properties, Forest City Ratner and Extell Development are among those that have had layoffs, sources said.
“It looks like development is slowing down,” said Extell CEO Gary Barnett in a statement. “We have been proactive and have reduced our staff by about 10 percent. All our projects that are in construction are moving forward and doing well.”
Other sources said that Barnett and his partner in the Riverside South project, the Washington, DC-based Carlyle Group, are trying to determine the best use for remaining plots of land, including a commercial parcel of 2.8 million square feet that earlier stymied Donald Trump‘s development efforts as well.
A source close to Tishman Speyer said those sacked represent less than 3 percent of the company’s total workforce and did not involve senior management.
However, at the same time Tishman Speyer also has been snatching up people who were laid off from Wall Street due to the credit crunch.
A Tishman spokesman could not be reached for comment.
A Forest City spokeswoman was unable to comment at presstime.
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After wrestling with paying a $2.4 million-a-year tab and losing, The New York Artist Series will not lease the old Limelight on lower Sixth Avenue after all.
Instead, the Artist Series’ Joe DiRosa is teaming up with the Pasquale brothers, owners of 54 Crosby St., to create a smaller special event haven there.
The 8,500 square foot townhouse has a three-story atrium with skylights, its own waterfall and two subterranean floors – all perfect for mingling. The venue will eventually be open during the day as an art gallery.
The property’s previous owner, Arturo DiModica, who constructed the building on a former vacant lot and left many of his murals beautifying its walls, was the sculptor who created the “Charging Bull” on Wall Street at Bowling Green.
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A recent broker’s party that brought out a whopping 300 people – likely because they had little to do – also brought in an offer a day and now a lease has been signed at 1040 Avenue of the Americas.
The Northeast Power Coordinating Council will move from SL Green’s 1515 Broadway to the entire vacant 10th floor of 12,007 feet.
Owner Oren Wilf‘s Garden Homes will build out the floor under the 15-year deal, which averages in the mid-$50s per square foot.
Newmark Knight Frank’s Barry Rosner repped the tenant, while NKF colleagues Wil liam Cohen, Matt Leon and Ryan Kass worked for Wilf, who also has high-end pre-builts with marble details.
“The brokers party really, really, really worked,” said Cohen, who noted many of the party visitors won large flat-screen TVs, Nintendo Wiis and checks for the celebratory sum of $1,040.
