This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet
This week, plans for a massive office spread on the West Side of Manhattan were revealed, a new office tower scored financing and a Downtown Brooklyn hotel traded.
TOP LEASES
Tishman Speyer is building a brand-new development in the 10-story Morgan North Postal Facility. The company announced last week it has agreed to a 99-year ground lease with the United States Postal Service to redevelop the upper floors of the facility in West Chelsea into 630K SF of offices. Ultimately, the building will feature floor plates between 48K SF and 200K SF, and the seventh floor will open onto a 2.5-acre rooftop. Ceilings will be up to 17 feet high. The construction at the site, which spans an entire block at Ninth to Tenth Avenue and 29th to 30th streets, is slated to begin next year and wrap in mid-2022.
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Brookfield locked down an anchor tenant for its next big office development, Two Manhattan West. Law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore announced it is taking 481K SF in the 1.9M SF tower in a space that will span floors 25 through 37. Cravath was represented in the deal by CBRE’s Lewis Miller, Andrew Sussman, Cara Chayet and Munish Viralam. Cushman & Wakefield’s Bruce Mosler and Josh Kuriloff represented the landlord, alongside Brookfield’s Duncan McCuaig and P.J. Massey.
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Fisher Brothers inked a deal for Global X Management Co. to take 14K SF at 605 Third Ave., the landlord announced. The lease is for 15 years, spans the entire 43rd floor and means Global X will move from 600 Lexington Ave. John Picco and Jennifer Casey of Cushman & Wakefield brokered the deal for the tenant. The landlord was represented in-house by Marc Packman and Charles Laginestra, as well as Bruce Mosler, Louis D’Avanzo, Andrew Ross, Michael Baraldi and Maria Travlos of C&W.
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Conservative news outlet Newsmax is taking 24K SF at Charles Cohen’s 805 Third Ave., The New York Post report. The arrangement is a sublease deal with Meredith, which merged with Time Inc. and moved its headquarters to Brookfield Place. The deal runs until 2026, and allows Newsmax, run by President Donald Trump's friend Chris Ruddy, to expand significantly from a 5K SF space at 8 West 40th St. JLL’s Dan Posy and Peter Michailidis represented Newsmax.
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Conference and events venue etc.venues is taking nearly 30K SF at Boston Properties’ 601 Lexington Ave., the tenant announced. The London-based company builds out and rents meeting space. The space has been a conference center for Citi and will now be remodeled, according to the release. It is etc.venues' second location so far in the city, with plans to open as many as 12 locations in New York in the next several years, The Wall Street Journal reports. CBRE’s Taylor Scheinman, Michael Movshovich and Gary Davies represented the tenant with KDB Advisors’ Brian Halberg.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Macklowe Properties locked down around $192M for its planned Midtown skyscraper — known as Tower Fifth — from Fortress Investment Group, The Real Deal reports. The financing is for three sites: at 7 East 47th St., 5 East 51st St. and 12 East 52nd St. Two of those sites, on 52nd and 51st streets, are part of the assemblage for the tower. The money includes a new mortgage for about $50M, and replaces Fortress' previous $124M loan on the site, per TRD.
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Square Mile Capital Management has loaned $430M to GFP Real Estate and Northwind Group for the redevelopment of 100 Pearl St. The 970K SF building is also known as 50 Water St. and 7 Hanover Square. New York City Health + Hospitals has already agreed to take 526K SF at the 50 Water St. portion of the building.
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South Korean Shinhan Bank loaned $88M to Aju Hotels & Resorts for its purchase of hotels in Midtown, Commercial Observer reports. Aju paid $85.5M for 52 West 36th St. and $51.2M for 30 West 31st St. The two properties have 307 rooms in total.
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Greystone provided $37.1M in Fannie Mae-backed permanent debt for Lion Group’s rental building at 14-01 Broadway in Astoria. The loan replaced Bank Leumi’s construction loan, according to a release. Greystone Capital Advisors’ Drew Fletcher, Matthew Klauer and Bryan Grover arranged the financing.
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Taconic Capital Advisors loaned $38M to Merchants Hospitality for the Z NYC Hotel at 11-01 43rd Ave. in Long Island City, Commercial Observer reports. The hotel has 100 rooms and also a 45K SF retail, office and amenity space. Iron Hound Management’s Chris Herron and Kevin Thompson arranged the financing.
TOP SALES
Cornell Realty Management and Rubin Equities Inc. paid $90M for 85 Flatbush Ave. Extension in Downtown Brooklyn, PincusCo reports. Chetrit Group and Robert Wolf’s Read Property Group were the sellers. The purchase was made across two transactions and includes both the Tillary Hotel and the adjoining rental building, 60 Duffield, per the publication.
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Thor Equities Group sold 1752 Shore Parkway in Gravesend, Brooklyn, for $73M, the firm announced last week. Algin Management bought the 136K SF big-box retail property, per The Real Deal. It is leased to BJ’s Wholesale Club, and the property also features a three-level, 60K SF parking garage.
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Sela Group, run by Gal Sela, paid $55M for a warehouse at 29 Ryerson St. in Clinton Hill, PincusCo reports. The seller was Madison Realty Capital, which paid $45M for the property in 2015. The warehouse spans 215K SF and has been slated for an office conversion, according to PincusCo.
