This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet
This week, a Fifth Avenue hotel sold to Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, a big lease deal was signed at Rockefeller Plaza and the developers of the Essex Crossing megadevelopment locked down financing.
TOP SALES
Taconic Investment Partners and Nuveen Real Estate paid $230M for part of the former Upper West Side ABC campus from Silverstein Properties, the buyers announced last week. The site, which includes 125 West End Ave., 320 West 66th St. and an adjacent unbuilt site, can support about 500K SF. Representatives for Taconic said it would be redeveloped to make use of growing office and studio demand. The purchase was funded by a $181M LoanCore Capital loan, JLL said in a release.
***
Afiaa, the Swiss pension fund, paid $126M for 45 West 45th St., in a deal that closed in September and was recorded with the city last week, PincusCo Reports. Vanbarton Group sold the 16-story office property, which it acquired for $81M in January 2015.
***
Fairstead and Meadow Partners closed on their purchase of The Chocolate Factory Lofts at 275 Park Ave. in Brooklyn, paying $67.25M, the buyers announced last week. The building, previously a Tootsie Roll factory, has 125 units. The sellers were HK Organization and Brickman Real Estate, and the buyers locked down a $56.9M loan from Heitman, according to The Real Deal. Meridian Capital Group’s Drew Anderman and Alan Blank arranged the financing.
***
The Qatar Investment Authority paid $310M for the St. Regis Hotel on Fifth Avenue, The Wall Street Journal reports. The seller was Marriott International, which will continue operating the property, per the publication. Marriott took ownership of the property when it acquired Starwood Hotels & Resorts three years ago.
TOP LEASES
Accounting firm Citrin Cooperman is taking nearly 111K SF at Tishman Speyer’s 50 Rockefeller Plaza, the New York Post reports. The deal is an expansion, and will see Citrin moving from a 90K SF lease at 529 Fifth Ave. CBRE’s Ken Rapp, Christopher Mansfield, Brad Auerbach and Ramneek Rikhy represented the tenant.
***
Talent agency Agency for the Performing Arts leased 21K SF at 3 Columbus Circle in Midtown for its New York headquarters, according to Savills. APA is moving from 135 West 50th St. in December. The company’s space was previously taken up by the building's landlord, Moinian Group. Savills’ Scott Weiss and Erik Schmall brokered the deal.
***
Urbanspace is opening a 15K SF food hall at George Comfort & Sons’ 135 West 50th St. building. The space is on the ground floor of the building and will open next summer. George Comfort & Sons CEO Peter Duncan, with Alexander Bermingham, Matt Coudert and Andrew Conrad represented the landlord in-house. Byrnam Wood’s Gordon Ogden and Benjamin Mohr represented the tenant.
***
The New York Public Library branch renewed its 16K SF lease at 10 Jersey St., at the base of 285 Lafayette St., paying a significantly higher rent. In this new deal, the New York Post reports, rents are $76 per SF starting in two years, and its current rent is $37 per SF. Kushner Cos. owns the retail condominium.
***
Investment firm Newlight Partners is taking 15K SF at Mutual of America Life Insurance Co.’s 320 Park Ave., JLL announced. The private investment firm is taking all of the 25th floor in the deal, which is for 10 years. JLL’s Alexander Chudnoff and Daniel Turkewitz represented the tenant. JLL’s Frank Doyle, David Kleiner and Betsy Buckley represented the landlord.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Delancey Street Associates, a joint venture between L+M Development Partners, BFC Partners, Taconic Investment Partners, Prusik Group and Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group, scored a $215M construction loan for a residential building at the Essex Crossing development from JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs. The financing will go toward The Essex, a mixed-used project at 125 Delancey St. AKS Capital Partners’ Jonathan Schwartz, Aaron Appel, Keith Kurland and Adam Schwartz arranged the financing.
***
Shorenstein Properties scored $350M from Barclays, Commercial Observer reports, for the leasehold the company has at 1407 Broadway. This money retired a $270M Bank of America loan for the 1.1M SF Garment District office building. JLL’s Geoff Goldstein, Michael Gigliotti and Christopher Peck arranged the financing for Shorenstein.
***
Treetop Development scored a $120.8M senior loan for its 917-unit multifamily project at 711 Seagirt in Far Rockaway, Berkadia announced. The 10-year Freddie Mac loan comes with five years interest-only. Michael Shmuely of Berkadia’s New York office secured the permanent refinancing on behalf of the borrower, according to the release. The Freddie Mac loan was brokered by Meridian Capital Group’s Isaac Lifshitz and Thomas Wayda. Entities affiliated with Pennybacker Capital provided $25M in preferred equity, per the release.
***
F&T Group locked down $275M from Shanghai Commercial Bank for its project in Flushing, PincusCo reports. The loan is for five parcels on 37th Avenue, Prince Street and 39th Avenue, according to the publication.
