News
FINANCIAL DISTRICT; NEWEST DEALS
October 22, 2008
| Wall Street chatter can be harrowing—but not for Capstone Equities. The investor's two main FiDi assets, 14 Wall Street and 156 William Street, are showing superb performance—occupancy at 14 Wall jumped from 68% to over 90% since they acquired it with Carlyle Group last year. The 37-story asset also houses Capstone's office, where we met principal Daniel Ghadamian and managingprincipalJosh Zamir Monday to find out more. |
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| In a twist, Daniel and Josh tell us financial tenants are no longer the Financial District mainstay; residential and retail are on the rise. At 156 William, 15k SF of ground-floor medical space is available and received a lot of interest, thanks to its proximity to Downtown Hospital. The firm is finishing up $6M capital improvements, including a $1M lobby facelift, new corridors and a security andmechanical systems overhaul. The space is opposite Forrest City Enterprises' new 70-story Beekman Tower, which will include a public elementary school, ambulatory care facility and approximately900 rental units. By the by, if FiDi does mingle with retail and residential, we're coining its new moniker: ReFiReD. |
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| Capstone's crown jewel, 14 Wall—the historic Bankers Trust Building—just completed its own $25M capital improvement program, serving a diverse tenant base from architects totelecom. In the past two weeks, two insurance tenants—White Mountains andMassachusetts Casualty Insurance Co.—each signed on for 13k SF, on top of True Religion Jeans'recent lease, bringing total space to 260k SF. Not limiting themselves to the interior, Daniel and Josh petitioned the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission to allow illumination of the building's base and pyramid for better skyline placement. On the personal side, Josh sits on the board of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, which happens to reside, rent-free, in an old bank vault in 14 Wall's basement. |
