ELECTION DAY DEAL SHEET
Since your mind is probably wrapped around Obama, McCain, red states, blue states and whether your vote will actually be counted today, we've decided to go a little easy on you with a list of select deals from the past week and a half. But before you continue reading, here's a quick Bisnow PSA—if you haven't voted yet, go!
Exec Moves & Promotions
Gramercy Capital Corp. announced the appointment of Roger Cozzi as president & CEO. Roger arrived from Fortress Investment Group, where he was managing director. Previously, he was chief investment officer at iStar Financial, and also worked for Goldman Sachs, Starwood Mezzanine Investors and Starwood Opportunity Fund IV. Gramercy's Marc Holliday, Andrew Mathias and Gregory Hughes stepped down from their respective president/CEO, chief investment office and chief credit officer positions in conjunction with the announcement. Marc and Andrew will remain as consultants to Gramercy through September 2009.
***
CB Richard Ellis promoted Brad Gerla to EVP of the New York Tri-State Region and Silvio Petriello to EVP. Brad has represented some of the city's most significant properties, including the 1.7M-SF 7 World Trade Center and the 3.8M-SF 55 Water St. He has been involved in leasing more than 1.3M SF to tenants such as Omnicom,Moody's, ABN Amro, and has represented tenants JP Morgan/Chase Bank, The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, the U.S. Attorney General of New York and the City of New York, among others. Silvio, who reps boutique financial service firm tenants, was behind transactions such as Jana Partners' 36k-SF relocation to the GM Building, Eminence Capital's 32k-SF expansion at 65 East 55th St., and HBK Investment's 36k-SF relocation to 1 Bryant Park.
***
Peter Febo joined Taconic Investment Partners as SVP for residential asset management, and will oversee all leasing, marketing and sales activities. He came from Home Properties, where he was regional VP for the New York-New Jersey metro region, overseeing management and construction activities for a portfolio of 44 properties valued at over $1B. He also served as director of investments forAvalonBay Communities' Midwest and East Coast assets, and held positions at Equity Office and Tishman Speyer.
Lease Transactions
Wurk Environments signed a new 10-year lease for 64,788-SF at1515 Broadway, taking the previously vacant 11th and 12th floors.Cushman & Wakefield's Adam Rappaport represented the tenant, while David Kaufman represented landlord SL Green in house withJones Lang LaSalle's Frank Doyle, Cynthia Wasserberger,Edward DiTolla and David Kleiner.
***
News America expanded its existing space at 1185 Avenue of the Americas by taking the 22nd and 23rd floors. The 12-year, 54,472-SF lease brings its total occupancy in the building to over 138k SF.L&L Holding Company's David Levinson and David Berkeyrepresented the tenant, and SL Green's Howard Tenenbaum andGary Rosen represented the landlord in-house.
***
Digital marketing agency Digitas signed a 15-year, 36k-SF lease atFour Stamford Plaza in Stamford, Conn. It will occupy the entire ninth floor and a portion of the 10th when it moves into the building in January. Byrnam Wood's Joseph Thanhauser and Choyce Peterson's John Hannigan represented the tenant, while RFR Realty's Margaret Carlson and Joseph Artusa represented the landlord internally.
***
750 Third Avenue saw the signing of two new leases, both represented by landlord SL Green's David Turino. Accounting and advisory firm Eisner inked an eight-year, 33,981-SF deal, taking the entire 13th floor, and was represented by Colliers ABR's Harry Krausman. And the Republic of Poland signed a 15-year, 17,890-SF lease for the entire 30th floor and part of the 29th floor, and was represented by Republic Realty Services' Ronald Shakerdge.
***
Merrill Lynch extended its 30,500-SF lease at 360 Hamilton inWhite Plains for another 10 years, beginning in January 2010.Cushman & Wakefield's Paul Kauffman represented the tenant, while SL Green's John Barnes and Clark Briffel represented the landlord internally.
***
The Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlandsrenewed its 17,156-SF space on the 11th floor of One Rockefeller Plazafor 10 years. CB Richard Ellis' Matthew McBride represented the tenant, while landlord Tishman Speyer was represented internally.
***
WB Engineers has almost quadrupled its space with the signing of a 7,500-SF deal at 525 Washington Blvd. in Jersey City. The company just moved from its 2,000-SF office in Ramsey, NJ to the more client and employee-centric location. CB Richard Ellis' Bruce Beegel represented the tenant, while Grubb & Ellis' Jeff Kolodkinrepresented landlord Brookfield Properties.
Leasing & Management Assignments
AB & Sons Group tapped CB Richard Ellis' Joseph Mangiacotti,Brad Gerla, Zach Freeman and Ben Fastenberg to market the remaining available office space in two of its buildings, 989 Avenue of the Americas and 240 West 37th St. Four full floors, averaging 5k SF each, are available at the 92k-SF 989 Avenue of the Americas, as well as ground-floor retail by early 2009. The landlord recently delivered new floors, windows and tenant-controlled HVAC in the building. Four full floors averaging 15k SF and a half floor are available in the 140k-SF 240 West 37th, which is in the middle of a$7.5M capital improvement program. Upgrades will include a new lobby, elevators, windows, an HVAC unit on each floor and apenthouse roof deck, scheduled for early 2009 completion.
Sales Transactions
The Hunter College School of Social Work is moving from its present location at 129 East 79th St. to a 142k-SF building on Third Avenue between 118th and 199th Streets in Harlem. Construction on the new building, which will give the school 32k SF of more space, will commence this summer for a June 2011 completion. Hunter plans to sell its current building and the land on which its sits for$65M to the Brodsky Organization, which will build the new facility at cost. The land is owned by the Lois and Samuel J. Silberman Fund in conjunction with the New York Community Trust, which have agreed to the deal. NYS has appropriated the remaining $95Mneeded for construction. CB Richard Ellis' Mary Ann Tighe, SteveSiegel, Darcy Stacom and Joan Meixner represented Hunter in the sale and move. Studley's Ira Schuman represented the New York Community Trust and found the Harlem land. CUNY's Matthew Goldstein, Iris Weinshall and Hunter's Jennifer Raab represented the school in-house. Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel's Sandy Lindebaum acted as land-use counsel and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison's Meredith Cane acted on behalf of CUNY.
***
Redeemer Presbyterian Church closed on the purchase of a 40k SF parking garage at 150 West 83rd St.between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues, which it plans to turn into a community centerand worship space for up to 900 people. Colliers ABR's David Lebenstein, Nicky Heryet, Debra Wollens, Craig Evans andJoseph Grotto Jr. and Kriss & Feurstein's David Krissrepresented the church. City Center Real Estate's Robert Shapiroand attorney Irwin Landes represented the private-family seller.
