STAT OF THE DAY: Lower Manhattan Loves Big Building Sales

I wrote in this week's print edition of The Observer on whether 2008 would be as strong a year as 2007 for investment sales. Long story short: Not likely, because of the credit crunch. Also, 2007 set a remarkable benchmark, one perhaps best-illustrated by investment sales in Lower Manhattan. The Observer's John Koblin broke the news of what turned out to be the area's biggest building sale ever: The Paramount Group's spring purchase of 60 Wall Street for $1.2 billion. A new report (PDF) from the Alliance for Downtown New York has the run-down on other major building sales in Lower Manhattan, including the massive $750 million One Financial Square deal.