N.Y. Deal Sheet: Tishman Speyer Lands 320K SF Anchor In West Chelsea
Just six weeks after announcing it had acquired the Morgan North Postal Facility on Ninth Avenue, Tishman Speyer has already secured an anchor tenant for the project's redevelopment into creative office space.
After announcing its plans to turn the upper floors of Morgan North into 630K SF of creative office space, Tishman Speyer has signed Tokyo-based international advertising and public relations firm Dentsu Aegis Network to 320K SF, Tishman announced Tuesday. The deal at 341 Ninth Ave. is for 15 years. Dentsu will occupy half of the sixth floor and all of floors seven through 10. Dentsu Aegis is consolidating its three locations in the city and expects to move to the property in 2023.
Cushman & Wakefield's Richard Bernstein, Adam Ardise and Jared Thal represented Dentsu Aegis in the transaction. Tishman Speyer handled the leasing in-house. The seventh floor opens up to the 2.5-acre outdoor roof deck the developer is creating. The entire 200K SF fifth floor and the other 100K SF of the sixth floor are still available. Construction isn't set to begin for another year.
"Barely a month ago, we finalized our commitment to redevelop Morgan North because we saw it as an ideal fit for companies like Dentsu Aegis, which are powered by creative people and their innovative ideas," Tishman Speyer CEO Rob Speyer said in a statement. "With its dynamic West Chelsea location, authentic character and unparalleled access to collaborative indoor and outdoor spaces, we knew that 341 Ninth would be a major draw for such forward-looking firms.”
Here's what else we saw in New York deal activity over the last week:
TOP LEASES
After months of speculation, social networking giant Facebook inked a 1.5M SF lease for space in three buildings at Hudson Yards. The deal, announced last week, is the biggest lease in New York City this year and one of the biggest real estate transactions in Facebook’s history. The company will occupy a total of 30 floors in Related and Oxford Properties Group's megaproject. Facebook will lease about 1.2M SF at 50 Hudson Yards, some 265K SF at 30 Hudson Yards and approximately 57K SF at 55 Hudson Yards, where it will begin moving employees next year. Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant in the deal.
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Superstructures Engineers + Architects is taking almost 34K SF at Alexander Rovt's landmarked 14 Wall St., The New York Post reports. The firm is leasing space that will be left behind when Skidmore, Owings & Merrill moves to 7 World Trade Center next year. Superstructures is moving from Rudin Management’s 32 Sixth Ave. Newmark Knight Frank broker John Brierty represented the tenant. CBRE’s Brad Gerla, Jonathan Cope and Paul Walker are the brokers for the building. The asking rent for 14 Wall St. is $55 per SF.
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Investment bank Ducera Partners has signed a 29K SF lease at 11 Times Square, Commercial Observer reports. The deal at the building, owned by SJP Properties, PGIM and Norges Bank, is for 10 years and will see the company occupying the entire 36th floor. Asking rents reached $110 per SF. SJP Senior Vice President Zach Freeman brokered the deal for the landlords, along with JLL’s Paul Glickman, Dan Turkewitz and Kirsten Morgan. John Nugent of CBRE arranged the deal for the tenant.
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Jack Resnick & Sons locked down two leases at 199 Water St., known as One Seaport Plaza, for a total of 43K SF. In the larger of the two deals, Frank Recruitment inked a 35K SF lease on the entire 10th floor, according to a release. Guardian Life Insurance Co. took nearly 8K SF on the eighth floor. The company has been subleasing space there on the 20th floor. The landlord was represented in-house in both transactions by Executive Managing Director Brett Greenberg and Managing Director Adam Rappaport, alongside Cushman & Wakefield’s John Cefaly, Robert Constable, Ethan Silverstein, Stephen Bellwood and Myles Fennon. Seth Hecht of JLL represented Frank Recruitment and C&W’s Joseph Harkins represented Guardian Life Insurance Co.
TOP SALES
A market-rate apartment building at 29-28 41st Ave. in Long Island City traded for $47M, Meridian Capital Group announced in a release. Jack Guttman sold the 115-unit multifamily building to Arik Lifshitz of DSA Property Group. The property sold for just under $500 per SF, $408K per unit and a cap rate of 5.1%, per the release. Meridian’s Amit Doshi, Shallini Mehra and Jonathan Shainberg represented the seller, while the buyer’s side was brokered by David Schechtman, Abie Kassin and Adan Elias Kornfeld. Meridian’s Avi Weinstock and Josh Rhine arranged $31.5M in acquisition financing.
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Claremont Companies paid $59M for a Courtyard by Marriott at 181 Varick St. in SoHo, The Real Deal reports. The seller was an LLC with Hok Kit Lou listed as the managing member. The 19-story hotel spans 52K SF.
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Jeff Sutton’s Wharton Properties paid $20M to Avi Kendi for a one-story building at 166 Berry St., The Real Deal reports. The price per SF was $3,226, per TRD, which the brokers on the deal said was a record for the area. B6 Real Estate Advisors’ Thomas Donovan, Tommy Lin, Eugene Kim, Robert Rappa, DJ Johnston, William Cheng, Bryan Kirk and Michael Murphy brokered the deal for Kendi.
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Artist and designer KAWS, whose real name is Brian Donnelly, paid Thor Equities $17M for a 10K SF building in Williamsburg, Thor announced. The building, at 93 North Ninth St., is nearby to Donnelly’s studio. He is planning to expand into the building. Thor had owned the building in a joint venture with Colt Equities, which is run by Thor CEO Joseph Sitt's son, Jack. The two companies paid $9M for the property in 2015, per the release, and Jack Sitt was the sole broker on the deal.
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Avo Construction sold 1010 Pacific St. in Crown Heights for $20.3M, PincusCo reports. The buyer was listed as 1010 Pacific Owner LLC, and the deal includes two parcels. Avo had plans to build a mixed-used building there, per a 2018 New York Yimby report.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Rockwood Capital is providing a $100M mezzanine loan to Metro Loft management for 180 Water St., Commercial Observer reports. The financing is part of a $265M CMBS loan led by Deutsche Bank that was secured in October. The luxury residential building is at the corner of Water and John streets. Metro Loft paid $450M in 2017 to buy out its partner, Vanbarton Group, per The Real Deal.
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Thor Equities scored $92M from MetLife for 180 Livingston St. in Brooklyn, Commercial Observer reports. The office and retail building sits between Smith and Hoyt streets, and Thor paid $136M for it in 2015. Tenants include Brooklyn Defender Services and the New York City Transit Authority. Cushman & Wakefield’s Dave Karson, Alex Hernandez, Alex Lapidus and Emily Jonhansen brokered the deal.
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LoanCore Capital loaned $140M to DLJ Real Estate for 835 Sixth Ave., PincusCo reports. The previous lender on the property — which features the Eventi hotel and the Beatrice Residences — was Bank of America. This new financing includes a $47.5M gap mortgage.
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Arden Group scored $44M for the development site at 4650 Broadway in Inwood from Slate Property Group’s lending arm, SCALE Lending. The site is 47K SF and in an opportunity zone, and Arden plans to build a 300K SF market-rate and affordable residential development there. NKF's Dustin Stolly, Jordan Roeschlaub, Nick Scribani, Chris Kramer, Seth Hall and Ryan Flannery arranged the financing for Arden Group.
