APPLE and Barneys Co-op are both negotiating for their first stores in Brooklyn.
Sources said the two retailers have been in ongoing discussions to locate to the new residential property The Edge in Williamsburg, which will have 75,000 feet of new retail.
There are 1,350 residential condo units under construction planned for that property and as many as 2,500 coming within a two-block area, including two Toll Brothers projects.
The Edge goes along Kent Avenue from North 5th Street to North 7th Street, right near where the funky shopping district along North 6th Street will eventually lead to the water taxi.
The Livanos Restaurant Group – known for Oceana and Molyvos – is also negotiating for one of the spaces that sources said have asking rents from $60 to $100 a foot.
Barneys is exploring opening a more than 9,000 foot co-op, while Apple’s reps at Madison Retail Group have been spotted checking out a corner store of between 3,000 and 5,000 feet.
Tenants won’t get possession, however, for another year.
Robert Greenstone of Greenstone Realty, who is handling the retail for Jeffrey Levine‘s Douglaston Development, did not return calls before press time.
A Levine spokesman gave us no comment.
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Two real estate titans are maneuvering for a showdown.
We hear that sharpie Sheldon Solow is negotiating with Fortress Investment Group to buy the $900 million preferred equity debt portion it holds in the $6.95 billion in financing that Harry Macklowe secured when he acquired portions of Equity Office Properties portfolio.
And Solow’s doing it at a premium.
According to trade newsletter Commercial Mortgage Alert, if the preferred equity debt is not repaid by the February deadline, Macklowe might be forced to give up control of the crown jewel of his current portfolio, the GM Building at 767 Fifth Ave.
He may also have to give up other holdings that are pledged as collateral toward the $6.95 billion in loans.
Deutsche Bank is the major lender on both the GM Building and the EOP portfolio.
Why would Solow pay more? With interest now at 20 percent per month, he would make money if Macklowe manages to get out of the financing jam and pays it back.
But Solow could become a bigger winner if Macklowe comes up short and the buildings start falling in his direction.
A few years ago, Solow believed he was the high bidder on the GM Building and still has an ongoing lawsuit over the way the sale was conducted and its rightful ownership.
Sources say the Fortress folks also have it in for Macklowe since way back, ever since he got them psyched to truly own a piece of the GM Building before ultimately ditching them.
In a statement, a Solow spokesperson said, in part, “Sheldon Solow is continuing to pursue his federal court case contending that he rightfully owns the GM building.” Meanwhile, as Post colleague Zachery Kouwe previously reported, Macklowe has Wasserstein Perella exploring options.
Sources tell us potential buyers have been quietly kicking many of Macklowe’s bricks all summer.
The various spokespeople had no comments.
Stay tuned.
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A Chapter 11 bankruptcy trustee has just hired Massey Knakal Realty Services to sell 22 buildings in Northern Manhattan that could fetch more than $80 million.
In July, Michael Hershkowitz and Ivy Woolf-Turk were arrested in connection with a scheme to defraud 70 people of over $27 million worth of stakes in properties.
The jewel is The Ivy, a 10-story new construction condo at 2301 Second Ave. at 118th Street.
The others are all walk-ups, with two on 118th Street and the rest in Washington Heights, with 83 percent of the units rent regulated.
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Japanese advertising giant Dentsu, just consolidated and expanded from 666 Fifth Ave. and 488 Madison Ave. to 45,514 feet on the 16th floor of the Rudin‘s 32 Avenue of the Americas.
Greg Smith of Cushman & Wakefield brought them to the long-term sublease from Qwest that had an asking rent of $39 a foot.
TPG Architecture designed the new space, which was built out by Aragon Construction and includes koi tanks, floating think-tanks and waterfalls.