The Deal Sheet

Sale Transactions

Urstadt Biddle Properties rang up a 9.9% general partnership interest in Scarsdale's Midway Shopping Center for $6M. It also made an additional investment in the form of an unsecured loan to the partnership for $11.6M, which the partnership used to repay a second mortgage and unsecured debt (the loan matures in January '13). The shopping center contains 247k SF of leaseable space, anchored by a new 69k SF ShopRite opening next month and an 11k SF CVS. As part of the transaction, UBP became the exclusive managing and leasing agent of both Midway and an adjacent 60k SF shopping center owned by some of the partners.

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The first developer auction of a Manhattan condo in almost 20 years, which we reported last week, sold all six residences at M127,127 Madison Ave. The auction at the Roosevelt Hotel attracted over 400 investors for the five two-bedroom apartments, which started at $599k and sold between $1.2M and $1.4M, and the 2.2k SF three-bedroom duplex penthouse, which started at $1.2M, and sold for over $2M. Paramount Realty USA marketed and auctioned the units, while Cardinal Investments is the building developer.

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Sometimes owning makes more sense than renting in this market—and Winoker Realty closed the sale of three Manhattan office condos at 800 Second Ave. and 137 W. 25th St. The firm repped an accessory industry trade association in the $2M purchase of a 5.9k SF condo at 137 W. 25th (Massey Knakal's Brock Emmetsberger repped seller Zamba Records), while Winoker's Jonata Dayan, Adam Ben-Dayan, and Jonathan Ben-Dayan repped the buyer and seller on the 800 Second transactions: Evade Solutions' 510 SF purchase for $278k and attorney David Gold's 1.3k SF buy for $643k (also repped by Berkeley Global's Olivia Wu).

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Buyers are recognizing the benefits of retail condo ownership, too—8 West 19 Retail purchased a 5.7k SF space at 8 W. 19th St. from Bennco Properties for $2.7M. The single-tenant condo is occupied by Food Works. Robert K. Futterman & Associates' Brian Segall,David Alani, and Jonathan Butwin repped the buyer and seller.

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Massey Knakal sold a vacant mixed-use building at 254 E. 33rd St. for $2.2M cash. The five-story, 3.5k SF building was delivered vacant in partially renovated condition, and consists of a commercial unit, five studio apartments, and a one-bedroom duplex. The firm's John Ciraulo and Thomas Donovan exclusively handled the transaction.

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CB Richard Ellis Realty Trust purchased the 142k SF 225 Summit Ave. in Montvale, NJ. The building recently underwent an $8.5M complete renovation in '07, and is fully leased to Barr Laboratories until '20. The property is actually occupied and subleased to Medco Health Services. The buyer worked with acquisition director Kim Adamek and CBRE Investors in the acquisition.

Lease Transactions

Two becomes one: investment banking firm Piper Jaffray & Co. inked a 10-year, 64.8k SF lease at 345 Park, consolidating its two separate offices into one Midtown location. JLL's Lisa Kiell, Barbara Winter, and David Kleiner repped the tenant, while Tom Keating repped owner Rudin Management Co. in-house.

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Next stop for Amtrak: a 21.6k SF renewal at 21 Penn Plaza, where it will stay on the fourth floor and expand on a portion of the 10th. The deal was one of three at the building, which also includes Amerigroup's 8.3k SF expansion and Extended Nursing's 10-year, 17k SF lease. Only 23.9k SF is now available at the building, which is owned by GHG Realty Co. JLL's Lisa Kiell repped Amtrak, while Fischer Corporate Real Estate Services' Richard Hopen repped Amerigroup. SL Green's Howard Tenanbaum and Gary Rosen represented the landlord in all three deals, which had asking prices of $38/SF.

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The MTA may be cutting service left and right, but it's not stopping TransitCenter from expanding. The non-profit, which launched the concept of TransitChek, is expanding its Midtown HQ at 1065 Avenue of the Americas, inking a long-term 34k SF lease to occupy the entire 34k SF fifth floor. The in-house move is a consolidation from 27k SF over two floors. Studley's Paul Revson and Zev Holzman repped the tenant, while Newmark Knight Frank's Brian Waterman, John Fanuzzi, Brent Ozarowski, and Lance Korman repped the landlord.

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Risk management firm Reval is hedging its own bets on the Grand Central submarket, moving its HQ from 100 Broadway in Downtown Manhattan to 29.4k SF at 420 Fifth Ave. The company needed more space after two years of rapid company expansion, and took advantage of the downturn in commercial rents. UGL Equis' Dirk Hrobsky, Peter Trivelas, Gary Ceder, David Burton, and Andrew Sansom repped the tenant, who will take possession of the space July 1. The six-year sublease was inked with owner Macquarie Holdings, which was repped by Cushman & Wakefield's Robert Tanzmann.

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Six former partners from Mendes & Mount's aviation and space practice needed their own space, so the newly formed Fitzpatrick & Hunt, Tucker, Collier, Pagano, Aubert inked a 15-year, 16k SF deal at 12 E. 49th St.'s Tower 49 while concurrently signing a comparable lease at 633 W. 5th St. in LA. Studley's Zev Holzman and Paul Revson repped the tenant in the NY deal, while Studley's LA office was involved in the other deal. Colliers International's Robert Bakst worked with Zev and Paul to terminate the lease for Broadpoint Gleacher, which previously occupied the space and was consolidating to 1290 Avenue of the Americas.

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A monumental lease for a monumental landmark: World Monuments Fund is moving its HQ to the Empire State Building, where it will occupy nearly 12.5k SF come October. Newmark Knight Frank's Billy Cohen and Ryan Kass repped the tenant and owner W&H Properties in the lease. Au Bon Pain also inked a 1.3k SF retail lease in the building; Northwest Atlantic's Jacqueline Klinger repped the tenant, while CBRE's Andrew Goldberg, Eric Gelber, and Matt Chmielecki repped the owner.

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Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. inked an 11.8k SF lease at 303 W. Main St. in Freehold, NJ. CresaPartners' Bob Shulman, Maureen Young, and Tom Semler repped the tenant, while Sitar Co.'s Gregg Nowell and Chris Santoro repped owner Onyx Equities.

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10 W. 33rd S.'s Fashion Accessories Center must be in style, bringing in over 7k SF of new leases: Belgo Lux Fashion Accessories' eight-year, 3.5k SF lease (tenant rep: Millennium Realty Group); Underboss Productions' five-year, 2.1k SF lease (tenant rep: Intrepid Real Estate Group); and Sue & Sam Co.'s seven-year, 1.5k SF lease (tenant rep: Adams & Co.'s David Levy). David also repped the landlord in all three deals, which saw asking prices of $38/SF.

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Ibiza Kids is growing up—a city block, that is. The specialty children's shop is relocating from a smaller store on Fourth Avenue to a 5k SF location at 830 Broadway in Union Square. Newmark Knight Frank's Jason Maurer repped the tenant, while NKF's Jeffrey Roseman repped the landlord.

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Who's the big cheese now? Lamazou Cheese is expanding from its 16-year-old cheese/meat shop to its first restaurant, taking 3.6k SF at 344 Third Ave. Winick Realty Group's Joshua Singer and Cosmo Montemurro repped both the tenant and owner ATA Enterprises in the deal.

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Peter Poulakakos' pastry shop Financier baked up its seventh deal in Manhattan, taking a 1k SF location at 2 Astor Place, which was previously occupied by Cold Stone Creamery. Winick Realty's Darrell Rubens and Annie Shinn repped the tenant in the 10-year deal, while Newmark Knight Frank's Paul Berkman and Davie Berke repped the landlord.

Financing

Meridian Capital Group went on an $89M mortgage kick, including the negotiation of a new mortgage totaling $60.4M on a 482-unit multifamily property on Fairhaven Blvd. in Woodbury, Long Island. The loan features a 5.10% rate and 10-year term, arranged by Moshe Majeski. Other transactions included a $10.1M new mortgage on a 112-unit multifamily property on Richard Ave. in Jericho, Long Island (Abe Hirsch); and a $7.4M new mortgage on a 108-unit multifamily building on South Fulton Ave. in Mount Vernon (Elliott Birnbaum and Isaac Filler).

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GCP Capital Group also arranged a significant mortgage financing deal—$23.4M for a package of five multifamily properties totaling 324 units and a one-story retail property with eight units throughout Brooklyn and Queens. The deal was arranged by the Alan Perlmutter. The firm also arranged $2.2M for a six-story elevator townhouse with medical office on the lower floors at E. 71st St. in Manhattan, arranged by Matthew Albano.

Construction & Development

Want a chance to expand a thriving retail and office market? The NYC Economic Development Corp. issued an RFP for the purchase and development of two adjacent parcels of land within the Bronxchester Urban Renewal Area of the Mott Haven neighborhood in the Bronx, adjacent to the bustling Hub business district. The two parcels represent about 112k SF in development opportunity. Site 7A will be designated for public and semi-public uses such as schools, playgrounds, community centers, and health facilities, while Site 7B will be for commercial uses. NYCEDC wants proposals for either 7A and 7B together, or 7B alone.

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Did you know that Downtown Manhattan is the country's fourth-largest CBD? Broad Street Development is capitalizing on the significant foot traffic (300k workforce and 55k residents, not including all the tourists) by building a new glass-enclosed retail plaza at 55 Broadway, which will have 30' of Broadway frontage with space opportunities ranging from 4.9k on the ground floor and 6.4k SF on the mezzanine, which can be combined. The space will deliver by Fall '11, and will be marketed by Robert K. Futterman & Associates' Ariel Schuster and Greg Covey.

Business

Cushman & Wakefield added a valuation and advisory arm to its global mission critical facilities practice, appointing Miles Loo Jr. to national practice leader. For the past 10 years, Miles has been providing valuation services to tech-related real estate assets, including data centers, co-location facilities, carrier hotels, and Internet gateways.

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L&L Holding Co. formed L&L Residential, naming Daniel Hollander prez of the new division, which will focus on developing and acquiring multifamily properties. Daniel previously focused on his own development/investment firm focusing on distressed projects in NYC, which he formed after leaving The Clarett Group and Clarett Capital last year. He's a graduate of Columbia.

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Advance Realty formed Advance Real Estate Solutions, a new division focusing on providing corporations, building owners, and investors with a platform of real estate solutions from Maine to Virginia. The firm tapped Don Slaght, formerly of Workstage, to oversee the new division. He's a graduate of the University of Richmond.

Executive Moves

Mark De Riemer joined NAI Global's NYC office as senior managing director of investment services, focusing on investment sales and banking assignments for institutional and private clients in the eastern US, as well as working closely with the special asset solutions group in the origination and disposition of distressed properties and portfolios. He previously held positions at Savills, JLL, CBRE, Salomon Brothers, and Merrill Lynch. He's a graduate of Columbia and Colgate.

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Marion Jones Pavone joined Eastern Consolidated as director, responsible for servicing lenders, special servicers, owners, and buyers. She was previously founder and principal of New Doric Advisory Services, and also held positions at Savills and CBRE. She is a graduate of Tulane and UPenn.

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Gary Zaid joined Sierra Realty Corp. as SVP of residential property management. He was previously with A.S. Realty Partners, and was former CEO of G.S. Universal Construction, which managed the $75M Chelsea Towers at 100 W. 26th St. and the landmark Carl Fisher Building at 62 Cooper Square.

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Eastern Consolidated named David Schechtman principal of the firm, joining the existing group of 12 principals. He joined Eastern in '05, and has carved a niche in loan sales and bankruptcies while also assisting lenders, servicers, and buyers with determining the value of underlying real estate assets. Previously, he practiced law with DLA Piper.

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CBRE promoted six. Office brokers Jim Robbins and Bernard Weitzman were named SVPs; Jim has completed more than 3M SF of leasing in the past decade, specializing in relocations and renewals, while Bernie repped American Eagle Outfitters in a 60k SF lease and Lafayette New York in a 50k lease. Office brokers George Relyea and Paul Walker and consultant Michael Wellen were promoted to first VPs; George is CBRE's alliance director for Textron and reps Northrop Grumman, Paul recently arranged Bonnier Corp.'s 100k SF lease at 2 Park, and Michael was involved in Simon & Schuster's 292k SF HQ renewal at 1230 Avenue of the Americas, among other mega deals. And Rocco Laginestra was named VP, and was involved in the team that arranged the 200k SF Katz Media renewal.

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Cushman & Wakefield promoted Jon Marks to senior director in its Edison, NJ office. He's been with the firm since '94 and is part of C&W's six-person Central NJ office leasing team, which recently completed a 142k SF sublease assignment for a pharmaceutical firm in Bergen County.

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Lawrence Boes joined Lincoln Land Services as EVP and senior counsel, in charge of strategic growth and development for the firm and overseeing all major aspects of transaction management. He was previously with Stewart Land Title, and also practiced law at Thacher Proffitt & Wood and Sidley Austin Brown & Wood. He's a graduate of Hamilton College and Brooklyn Law School.

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Scott Francisco joined HLW International as director of discovery, leading the firm's design strategy consulting process, currently leading the team on a 40k SF adaptive reuse project for Fordham University's College of Business Administration and multiple projects for Google. He previously held positions at DEGW and HOK Advance Strategies, and is a graduate of MIT and the University of Toronto.

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Gary Rudoren returned to Spector Group as project manager, overseeing a variety of assignments from design to construction industry. He was previously with the firm in the ‘80s, and comes from a nearly two-decade stint at Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture in Chicago. He's a graduate of Syracuse.