January is the time when retailers offer merchandise at deep discounts. In the real estate business, a limited inventory of commercial properties are available during January. Instead of properties being sold at deep discounts, industry leaders feel properties are likely to sell at record-high prices.

Investors are very interested in SoHo. Last month, a joint venture of the Kaufman Organization and KBS Realty Advisors purchased the six-story, 78,000-square-foot, landmarked, mixed-use retail and office building at 130 Prince St. They paid $46 million to the seller, Richard Talmadge. A package of five mixed-use retail and residential buildings totaling 14,000 square feet, with an additional 18,000 square feet of air rights, has been sold for $18 million. The package includes 450 Broadway and 151, 153, 155, and 157 on Prince Street extending from the corner of West Broadway and to midblock on Prince. A joint venture of SL Green Realty and another developer, Jeff Sutton, acquired a leasehold interest in the 67,000-square-foot building at 379 West Broadway, whose tenants include Polo Ralph Lauren, for about $20 million.

A retail condominium of the ground floor and cellar space at the Greenwich Court residential building at 275 and 295 Greenwich St. was sold for $13.75 million.The buyer was Wiana Realty.A few months ago SL Green and Savanna Partners paid $60 million for the 14-story building at 141 Fifth Ave., built in 1897 at the southeast corner of East 21st Street. According to the trade, the new owners will convert the site into a residential condominium.

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On Monday one of the nation’s largest apartment companies, Archstone Smith, announced the acquisition of the Gershwin, a 40-story, 550-unit residential apartment building with about 41,000 square feet of retail space at 250 W. 50th St. It paid $342 million to Jack Resnick & Sons, which developed the property in 1998. Last August Archstone bought from Adellco the Aston, a 266-unit rental building at 800 Avenue of the Americas for $195 million, and the Foundry, a 222-unit building at Tenth Avenue and West 55th Street for $87.6 million. Archstone is under contract to purchase from Glenwood Management the Marlborough House, a rental building at Second Avenue and East 40th Street, The New York Sun has been told.

Earlier this month, the 27-story, 246,000-square-foot, class B office building at 370 Lexington Ave. and 41st Street was put on the market. Investors have until January 17 to bid for the 11-story, 112,000-square-foot office building at 119 W. 25th St. According to the trade, the property may fetch about $300 a square foot, or $33 million. In November, a New York-based investor sold a 12-story, 67,000-squarefoot loft office building at 140 W. 22nd St. for $27 million, or $403 a square foot. The buyer, the Vintage Group, plans to convert the building into 43 residential condominiums due for occupancy in June 2007. On January 24, a hearing will be held by the city’s Board of Standards & Appeals for a zoning variance to allow Jack Ancona to build a narrow 12-story residential building with 10 condominium units at 132 W. 26th St.

Last month, a sales office opened for a 10-story residential condominium building at 40 Bond St., east of Lafayette Street on the former site of a parking lot.The mid-block site is being developed by Ian Schrager and Aby Rosen, and will have 31 loft apartments, five townhouses, and a threeroom hotel.

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Amalgamated Bank opened its doors on April 14, 1923. Under the leadership of Sidney Hillman, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America invested $300,000 to launch the union bank.Two years later the bank moved to its present location at 15 Union Square, the former home of Tiffany & Company. The bank has retained CB Richard Ellis to market for sale the 80,000-squarefoot building. Based on its location across from Union Square Park, the property will probably be converted to a residential condominium.

Another hotel will be closing to make way for a residential condominium and condo hotel.This month, developers Izak Senbahar and Simon Elias will close on the purchase of the 176-room Mark Hotel at 25 E. 77th St. and Madison Avenue.They are paying $150 million, or about $850,000 a room, to Mandarin Oriental.

In December,Time Equities sold the eight-story, 66,980-square-foot commercial building at 421 E. 13th St. to Magnum Management for $19.8 million.The mid-block site is between First Avenue and Avenue A in the East Village. The new purchaser plans to convert the property into 90 residential condominiums with a health club, pool, and cabanas on the roof.

This summer the first residents are expected to move into the Macklowe Organization’s new condominium tower at 310 E. 53rd St. Across the street, the Related Companies recently completed the demolition of a series of walk-up buildings on the corner of East 53rd Street and Second Avenue, where they plan to construct residential condominiums. Last month, Massey Knakal Realty Services represented the Mittman family in the sale of a six-story, 31,438-square-foot commercial loft building across from the Macklowe tower at 307-311 E. 53rd St.The new owner, Miramar Properties, plans to convert the property, which was constructed in 1998, in about seven years to residential condominiums. The purchase price was about $15.45 million.

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Investors are interested in office buildings in Westchester and Connecticut. Last month, Danbury General Partners, an entity managed by Martin Sands, Steven Sands, and Isidore Mayrock, purchased a two-building, 126,000-square-foot office complex with a three-tier parking garage at 40-42 Old Ridgebury Road in Danbury, Conn. The seller was Danbury Office Centers,an entity controlled by Hall Investments. The purchasers paid $17.2 million, or $137 a square foot. In December, Willett Properties paid $22.6 million, or $205 a square foot to Ivy Equities and Urdang Associates, for the 111,078-square-foot office building at 411 Theodore Fremd Ave. in Rye. In November 2004, the Willets Properties paid $92.1 million, or more than $700 a square foot, the highest price ever paid on a square-foot basis for a suburban office building, when they purchased the 131,633-square-foot, 30-year-old office building at 55 Railroad Ave. in Greenwich, Conn. Brooklyn-based JFR Global Investments acquired 10 Norden Place, a 612,199-square-foot business park and development site situated on two lots totaling about 78 acres. They paid $87 million for the building and the 37.21 acres.

A few weeks ago, Reckson Associates Realty Corporation closed on the purchase of a 1.6 million-square-foot office, the EastRidge Office portfolio, consisting of 14 buildings in five business parks in Westchester County for about $255 million, or $163 a square foot, to the seller, the General Motors Pension Fund. The properties are located on Platinum Mile on Interstate 287, at the intersection of Interstate 684 and the Hutchinson River Parkway in the heart of Westchester County. In October, Reckson purchased 711 Westchester Ave., an 118,000-square-foot office building from an entity controlled by the Malkin family for $24.8 million, or $210 a square foot. Last month Reckson completed the recapitalization of the 50-story, 1.4 million-square-foot One Court Square, the Citigroup office building in Long Island City. It acquired the tower in May for $471 million, and sold a 70% joint-venture interest to a group of institutional investors led by JP Morgan Investment Management for about $329.7 million.

Last month, the founder of Computer Associated, Charles Wang, purchased the 618-room Marriot Hotel & Conference Center and 14.5 acres of property adjacent to the Nassau Veteran Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island. Mr. Wang is proposing to redevelop the site of the Coliseum with his joint venture, Reckson Realty. The joint venture’s redevelopment plans now encompass 150 acres, including the hotel, Reckson Plaza, and the Omni office buildings.

Investor interest continues to be strong in the greatest commercial marketplace in the world. Nothing seems to dampen investors’ desire and willingness to purchase property in this market.

Mr. Stoler is a television broadcaster and senior vice president at First American Title Insurance Company of New York. He can be reached at mstoler@firstam.com.