N.Y. Deal Sheet: Facebook Closes On Huge Farley Building Lease
The pandemic may have pushed tech companies toward work-from-home policies, but that is not stopping one of them from signing a huge New York City lease amid a global pandemic.
TOP LEASES
Facebook will take up 730K SF in Vornado’s Farley Post Office redevelopment at 421 Eighth Ave., the landlord announced Monday.
The news comes after the social media giant made plans to allow workers to permanently work from home in May. While landlords have remained bullish on the eventual rebound of the New York City office market, Q2 reports show lease signings were at their lowest point since 2009, and experts expect rent prices to start falling in the coming months.
Facebook’s decision to go through on the lease deal despite the dramatic shift in the market — and in addition to the 1.5M SF office lease it signed last year at Hudson Yards — could infuse confidence in an uncertain market.
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RXR Realty inked a seven-year, 15K SF lease with FuseFx at 32 Old Slip, Commercial Observer reports. The film production company will occupy the 17th floor, where asking rent was in the mid-$60 per SF. The company, currently based in SoHo, is moving to the Financial District for more space, CO reports. JLL’s TJ Hochanadel and Dan Santagata represented the tenant while CBRE’s Zac Price and Michael Affronti and in-house representatives Alexandra Budd and Daniel Birney represented RXR.
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NBCUniversal renewed its 340K SF lease in The McGraw-Hill building at 1221 Sixth Ave., owned by the Rockefeller Group, Colliers announced in its July monthly snapshot. In the last lease agreement, inked in 2013, the network took up the building's 27th and 29th floors, The New York Post reported in 2013.
TOP SALES
Parkoff Organization purchased three affordable apartment buildings in Brooklyn and Queens for a total of $63M, property records show. Cammeby’s International Group sold the properties. Both Brooklyn properties in the deal are entirely affordable units, according to Multi-Housing News. Fiesta Apartments at 8635 21st Ave. in the Bath Beach neighborhood sold for $20M, and 8700 25th Ave. in the Gravesend neighborhood sold for $20.75M, according to property records. The Queens property, at 162-15 Highland Ave. in Jamaica, sold for $22.25M and contains some affordable units. Cammeby's bought the properties from President Donald Trump’s brother, Robert Trump, The Real Deal reports.
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Senlac Ridge Partners and William Macklowe Cos. purchased 120 Fifth Ave. in Brooklyn from Avery Hall Investments for $59.4M, PincusCo. Media reports. The property was formerly a Key Food grocery store and is being developed into an apartment building with 44 units. Cushman & Wakefield’s Adam Spies, Douglas Harmon, Adam Doneger and Dan O’Brien brokered the deal for Avery Hall, which bought the property in 2017 for $45.7M.
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Developer Anbau Enterprises bought a commercial development site at 428 West 19th St. in Chelsea from Ernest Schoenherr for $12.3M, property records show. Collaborative Group’s Andrew Natter and Harold Fuchs brokered the deal, according to Real Estate Weekly. Anbau recently sold another development site in Hamilton Heights for over $29M. The developer had planned to build a condominium when it bought the site a few years prior.
The National Urban League secured $188M in debt for its $242M redevelopment project at 121 West 125th St. Goldman Sachs, which provided the debt, announced the deal. The project will be a 466K SF mixed-use building containing affordable housing units, market-rate apartments and retail space, according to the 125th Street Business Improvement District. It is set to include a museum focused on the civil rights movement in cities. Located along the cultural hub of Harlem, the building will be dubbed The Urban League Empowerment Center.
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Finkelstein Timberger East Real Estate scored $62M to refinance nine multifamily properties in the Bronx, Black Bear Capital Partners announced. Fannie Mae provided the debt through PGIM Real Estate. The properties, located primarily on Olinville Avenue, Mt. Hope Place and Grand Concourse, contain a total of 432 units. It is a five-year, interest-only loan with a 3.28% interest rate. BBCP’s Bryan Manz, Rob Serra, Emil DePasquale and Brandon Harris brokered the debt.
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Cape Advisors and The Pioneer Group secured $280M in construction financing for the duo’s 534-unit residential project at 30-77 Vernon Blvd. in Astoria. This includes $225M in debt provided by Square Mile Capital and $55M in equity, Commercial Observer reported. The equity was provided by Colorado-based REIT UDR, a source familiar with the deal told Bisnow. JLL’s Stephen Palmese, Rob Hinckley, Jeffrey Julien, Nicco Lupo and Steven Rutman arranged the equity for Cape Advisors, the brokerage announced. Adam Hakim and James Murad of Meridian Capital Group arranged the debt. The property is 522K SF, sits along the East River and is set to be completed by 2021, according to New York YIMBY. It will include a fitness center and a rooftop pool. The project is the latest in a series of major developments in Astoria.
Contact Kelsey Neubauer at kelsey.neubauer@bisnow.com.
