NEW YORK CITY-Members of the Tishman construction team and Extell officials celebrated outside the new skyscraper on West 47th Street in the city’s Diamond District. It is expected to be fully operational by mid-2013.

NEW YORK CITY-The 590,660-square-foot mixed-use plan for the shuttered hospital site got the green light from the city council’s land use and zoning and franchises subcommittee late Wednesday.

NEW YORK CITY-Despite a 6% increase in confidence from last year, Rich Bezold, chair of Akerman’s national real estate practice group, tells GlobeSt.com Jacqueline Hlavenka that the firm’s latest survey results show that getting financing is still a challenge to overcome.

NEW YORK CITY-A spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com in an e-mail that RFR bought back the note and is starting to redevelop the site as a hotel and residential condominium development, as previously planned.

NEW YORK CITY-Members of the Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chamber of Commerce and the city’s Building and Construction Trades Council stumped on the steps of City Hall urging BP Scott Stringer to support the school’s agenda for growth.

NEW YORK CITY-The financing will cover construction costs for the 110,00-square-foot mixed-use building at 76 North 4th Street in the trendy Brooklyn neighborhood, where rents are expected to continue to creep up this year.

NEW YORK CITY-According to new February ‘12 data from Trepp, a big part of the surge was due to one class of 2007 loans paying off, notably, the $500 million loan on the Solow Building at 9 West 57th Street.

UTICA, NY-Marcus & Millichap’s Joseph French and Thomas Dalzell arranged the sale of the 189,218-square-foot shopping center, representing $74.52 per square foot and a cap rate of 9.26%.