Building owners are quietly gearing up for contract talks and a possible strike by the Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, whose city commercial contract ends at midnight on Dec. 31.

Owners feel the union bargained and obtained a “very generous” four-year contract when the economy was still strong at the end of 2007 — a contract that provided 4.8 percent yearly average bumps in wages and benefits.

Now, while in the midst of an economic crisis, owners who asked not to be identified tell us they will dig in to resist union demands, they fear, that could boost a porter’s wages and benefits to $100,000 per year by the end of the next contract cycle.

At the end of this year, the weekly salary for a Class A building “handyperson” was $990.92 plus benefits — a total of $80,960 per year.

Wages for office cleaners, porters and elevator operators are $905.02 per week, or $76,540 a year with benefits.

The union represents about 25,000 area workers in over 1,000 commercial buildings. It rallied last month outside the New York Stock Exchange along with Occupy Wall Street protesters “to spotlight the need for good jobs and the growing wealth gap between the ultra rich and working people.”

Overall, the union represents 120,000 workers in commercial and residential buildings in several cities, 60,000 of which have contracts expiring this fall.

Howard Rothschild, president of the Realty Advisory Board, which acts as the owners’ collective bargaining group, said he does not yet know the union’s position. First talks are scheduled for Nov. 15.

“At that meeting they will give us their presentation and proposals and about 10 days later we will respond to them,” Rothschild said, adding, “Only the union can say if there is going to be a strike. We always prepare because if we didn’t it would be very foolish.”

Rothschild said the RAB has had a “long and good” relationship with the union. “Even when the economy tanked we lived up to the obligations,” he said. “Today’s economic reality is very different than it was in 2007. The union has been responsible in the past and we hope they will recognize [today’s] financial realities. We look forward to working with the union to reach an agreement that is acceptable to all parties. Underlying all of this is the union’s desire to get the best deal for its members and I understand that.”

On a lighter note, Rothschild only laughed when we asked if the discussions would include asking the union try to help “clean out” their BFFs at Occupy Wall Street from Zuccotti Park.

In an e-mail, 32BJ said it has not yet presented its requests to the building owners. Stay tuned.

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Mary Poppins is shrinking on 42nd Street.

Aldo shoes has just made a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious deal for space owned by Disney next to the New Amsterdam Theatre where the Mary Poppins musical is housed.

Along with the former Europa Café space of 2,200 square feet on the ground and the same footage on the lower level at 218 W. 42nd St., Aldo will be getting four stories of signage above the store that now features ads for Mary Poppins.

The asking rent for the store was $1.2 million per year and a separate deal was made for the valuable signage which hadn’t been originally offered with the space.

Amira Yunis of Newmark Knight Frank Retail represented Aldo in the deal.

“There are really no fashion forward retailers in Times Square,” Yunis observed. “They will also have the signage by the busiest subway station in New York.”

David LaPierre of CBRE represented Disney.

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In a stunning retail scoop for Rockefeller Center, the Urban Outfitters’ Free People division — which was also the company’s original store name — will lease a 7,000-square-foot duplex on the West 49th Street side of 600 Fifth Ave.

The space, which has 4,000 square feet on the ground and a 3,000-square-foot mezzanine, has been vacant since a Japanese bookstore moved out some years ago. Back in 2007, the asking rent for what was then a nearly 10,000-square-foot store was $1.7 million. “They got more now,” said one source.

Free People, which has three stores in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn, was represented by its hometown Philadelphia firm, McDevitt Co., while the Rock Center leasing was handled in-house by owners, Tishman Speyer Properties. TSP declined comment and the Free People press office did not respond to an e-mail by press time.

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PopSugar’s parent, Sugar Publishing, is moving to the entire ninth and tenth floors of 386 Park Avenue South that spread over 26,250 square feet.

The 10-year lease had an asking rent in the mid-$40s per square foot.

The Web-based pop culture, entertainment and lifestyle company will be moving from 532 Broadway in SoHo to the NoMad/Gramercy-area 26-story office building sometime next spring.

W. Clark Finney of Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant, while the joint Monday Properties/Savanna ownership will build out the entire space for the Sugar people on a turnkey basis. Jordan Berger of Monday acted as the in-house leasing agent.

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The International Federation of Accountants is making a short leap while expanding from 14,000 square feet at 545 Fifth Ave. to 24,962 square feet at nearby 529 Fifth Ave.

The global organization, which has 2.5 million members and associates in 125 countries, will move in February to the entire sixth and part of the fifth floor of the building, which had asking rents in the high $40s per square foot.

Daniel Horowitz, Jeffrey Peck and Gary Kerper of Studley represented IFAC in the long-term lease.

The new offices will have a column-free boardroom/conference room that can host 75 people and will also have signage at the building entrance.

The building owners, a joint venture of Silverstein Properties and Loeb Partners Realty, were represented in-house by Roger Silverstein and Jeremy Moss.