A year to remember.

The real estate industry made a lot of gains this year, particularly with the reduction of the Federal capital gains taxes. But we also suffered losses, such as the passing of the great Harry Helmsley, Jerome Steiker, Henry Pearce and Charles Rappaport.

The real estate investment trusts and shareholder-held real estate companies began making splashes in the city. Trizec-Hahn picked up the Grace Building and other Weiler properties and went on to purchase Newport Tower in New Jersey and the Sears Tower in Chicago, among others.

Vornado turned into a tornado, joining with Mendik and purchasing a slew of properties around Penn Station, including the yet to be closed deal for a 2.4 million square-footer. It's now making Uptown deals around Rockefeller Center, where Jerry Speyer has maintained the quality of the landmark for the new investor group that includes David Rockefeller and Goldman Sachs.

The meshing of spaces for Christies auction house using underutilized space there, including portions of the garage, is our pick for leasing deal of the year and was completed with Insignia/ESG brokers.

Jerry Speyer appears to have won the deal for the Chrysler Building, but grumblings are heard from the losers.

Downtown, the Wall Street corridor churned with both office and residential conversion buys and openings. John Street became Silicon Alley North, as several buildings took part in the city's Plug 'N Go - $15 rental specials. But astute owners like the Elgahayans and Moinian also added to the residential conversion banks.

The Trump International Hotel & Tower opened with a fung shui ceremony and traditional champagne. It's virtually sold out. Meanwhile, Trump is planning a new tower at the St. Moritz and what he says may become the tallest residential building in the world across the street from the United Nations, after winning the bidding for an older office building.

The city finally awarded the UN Plaza to Regal, but the decisions on the Coliseum, Two Columbus and Yankee Stadium are yet to be made.

Hotels - including the Pennsylvania, Drake, Beverly, Henry Hudson, and Westbury - changed owners, while new ones are planned by Marriott, Sofitel, Steve Witkoff, the Fitzpatricks, Philip Pilevsky, Apple Core, Embassy Suites, Homestead Village, Joseph Neumann, Harry Cipriani, the Downtown Athletic Club, Planet Hollywood, Bernard Goldberg and the Ritz-Carlton. Inn Bruce Eichner continues to run the Park Central and sell timeshares in his contiguous Manhattan Club. Room rates went over $200 a night on average, while occupancy stayed over 80 percent.

Uptown, the Aby Rosen, Michael Fuchs and Trevor Davis engine gobbled residential sites, while Steve Ross' Related and the Rose's completed other projects on the East Side and are getting ready for new ones. Bernard Spitzer began his 57th Street upscale rental project, while across the street, 135 East 57th Street was purchased by Charles Cohen for a bit over $113 million. Cohen also pulled in the Blue Cross Building and Swiss Bank Tower, among other upscale plays.

In Lincoln Square, Millennium finished two more buildings, including an extended stay hotel, and Brodsky brought One Columbus on line as an ivy graduates haven. Macklowe, the Resnicks and Moinian are beginning construction on Eighth Avenue in the Fifties, jump-starting an entire neighborhood.

Steven Witkoff, Joseph Moinian, the Kalimians, the Hakims, Charles Cohen, and the Macklowes were active buyers and sometimes sellers. But it was CS First Boston that takes the prize as the force and megs dollars behind many of the city's deals, jet fueling the market.

The Museum of Jewish Heritage opened to great fanfare, bringing Cardinal O'Connor and Elie Weisel to a ceremony attended by both the Governor and Mayor. Work began on Pier A and other Battery Park schools and housing, while the Mercantile Exchange took its place along the waterfront.

CB Commercial and Koll combined, as did Galbreath and LaSalle. Milstein purchased Sopher, and Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy purchased Cranford Inc. of Brooklyn Heights. Insignia went on a buying spree all around the metro area, country and world. Cushman & Wakefield is extending its Asian operations, while its affiliate Rockefeller Group concentrates on real estate, shedding Radio City Productions in a year-end deal.

A residential strike was averted with good negotiating skills, but half the year was occupied by the rent wars as tenants and owners battled in the press and the halls of Albany to change rent stabilization laws. Of course, some of those gains are also under legal assault and much of this year will be spent fighting these skirmishes in court.

Disney formally opened the New Amsterdam Theater while Durst, Forest City and Tishman began building along the Deuce. Reuters signed on for a tower with the Rudins, while Prudential is marketing yet another site.

Governor George Pataki's proposal for school tax relief will now be implemented, while individual co-op and condo taxes are still being dropped and a new state law is expected to be passed this year.

New Year's Wish List

For a New Year's wish for real estate, Ronald B. Bruder would like to see stability and continued growth, But on more reflection, the chairman of Dames Moore/Brookhill and president of the Brookhill Group decided he'd like even slower growth.

"Things are growing too quickly to be sustained and there is too much money chasing deals," he explained.

Retail broker Faith Hope Consolo of Garrick-Aug Worldwide hopes the tight retail space will loosen up a little and the conversion and new construction currently underway creates the space to fill the demands from national retailers.

Greg Carlson, president of the Federation of New York Housing Cooperatives and a co-op consultant, said he wishes that the state legislators would have enough courage to pass legislation that would require sponsors to sell their remaining units.

"In that way, cooperatives can be in the true sense what they started out to be," explained Carlson.

In the most fanciful wish, architect Steven P. Papadatos would like to see another 20 or 30 stories added on top of the Empire State Building.

"That could be one of the interesting projects ever and would make it regain its stature as the tallest building in the world," he said. "There could be a major improvement in aesthetics - compare its current top to the Chrysler Building - and add something more positive to the most significant building in the world."

On a more somber note, commercial sales broker Randy Kohana, who heads the RAK Group, said he would like to see temperance on the part of the entire community.

"It's hard," he said, "not to build too many projects, not to lend too much money, and not to do the things that got everyone in trouble before. If the economy has a soft landing, we in real estate can reap benefits far in excess of any major recession. But if it happens this time around, it has the potential for being worse than it was. I can still be optimistic and aggressive, but must be pragmatic towards everyone's endeavors."

Kohana also said he hopes there will be more consideration towards being ethical.

"It shouldn't just be 'the last dollar,' because it is people's ethics and standing in the community that means much more. There's enough now to go around for everyone and there is no reason why everyone can't get their fair share of business and accolades and recognition."