Office

SAN FRANCISCO-The vacancy rate of small spaces in San Francisco has dropped 1.5% since February. Real estate expert Hans Hansson sees this as a potential window of opportunity for landlords to divide larger spaces in the future.

NEW YORK CITY-Newly formed Normandy Real Estate Partners snags its first Manhattan office asset in the low to mid-$400s per sf. The buyer says 1370 was being pursued by those squeezed out of the 450 Park Ave. buy. Normandy bought the asset in partnership with Scott Landis.

MESA, AZ-Officials are getting ready to unveil the newest changes to the 30,000-sf Desert Vista Medical Center. Crews have been working under a 180-day fast-track schedule. All is on target for the mid-April delivery.

LOS ANGELES-The local office of Interior Architects, one of the largest interior design firms in the world, signs a 10-year lease at the same site but on a different floor. The transaction is valued in excess of $3 million.

LOS ANGELES-Qantas Airways, the airline company servicing the South Pacific, relocates its headquarters for the Americas/Pacific region. The company signs a seven-year lease deal in Howard Hughes Center

NEW YORK CITY-Bear Stearns chairman Jimmy Cayne was joined by Governor George Pataki, US Senator Charles Schumer and 800 employees last night to light the crown atop the financial services firm's new Madison Avenue headquarters.

FOLSOM, CA-Meadowview Limited Partners of Marin County bought the Riley Professional Center in central Folsom for $6.95 million. The seller, Capital Builders, built the property in 2000.

NEWARK-The agency will move to a new under-construction facility nearby early next year, leaving owners Gale and TishmanSpeyer with a nine-story hole to fill in the downtown landmark.