With a total of 54,328 square feet sold for a combined $63.2million, the 139 Centre deals averaged 1,820 square feet each.Absent 139 Centre—which Time Equities Inc.'s Michael Rudder says isa niche unto itself within a niche sector of just 76 buildings and8.2 million square feet—the office condo market in Manhattan saw adrop-off from 64 transactions in 2008 to 27 last year.

"Massey Knakal just released a report saying that the number ofinvestment sales in '09 was down 75% from the previous year and 92%from the peak," Rudder tells GlobeSt.com. "This is similar,although the decline isn't quite as drastic."

However, Rudder, whose firm controls slightly less than 10% ofManhattan's office condo space and just released its year-endreport on the sector, is confident that 2010 will see a rebound."There will definitely be more transactions," he predicts. Onereason, he says, is an improvement in the lending climate. "Throughthe Obama administration's stimulus program, they've improved theSBA lending for small businesses, so there's great financingavailable," he says.