I'll Take Manhattan

I have noticed a few recent, big Manhattan real estate transactions.  Hines sold two office buildings for over $1 billion (Hines REIT owned 11% of both buildings).  The first, a 300,000 square foot tower on Park Avenue sold for $390 million, or $1,300 per square foot, and the second, a 750,000 square foot tower on Lexington Avenue sold for $700 million, or approximately $933 per square foot.  Hines acquired both properites in 2003.  According to Bloomberg, another mid-town Manhattan property, a 27-story building on Madison Avenue majority owned by Carlyle Group, is expecting bids as much as $2,300 per square foot ($1.4 billion), far above the $1,583 per square foot record set in late 2007.