This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet
With the unofficial end of summer around the corner, deals have remained cool.
RFR purchased 522 Fifth Ave. from Morgan Stanley for $350M, the developer announced Tuesday. The 23-story Midtown office building is situated a few blocks from Bryant Park and Times Square. Ashkenazy Acquisition owns the two ground-floor retail units of the building, which are currently being marketed for leasing, according to the building’s website.
TOP SALES
RFR is marketing 575K SF of office space for a lease beginning in 2024, it said in an announcement. The deal comes as New York office investment sales declined 47% year-over-year in the first half of 2020, with the average price of an office building down 28%.
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Yihai North America bought a luxury apartment building at 111 Kent Ave. for $45.3M, about $11M less than the $56M the building sold for in 2012 in a deal that was record-breaking at the time, Crain’s New York Business reports. American Realty sold the Williamsburg building, which contains 62 residential units. The deal reflects the investment market: average pricing for multifamily properties across the city dropped 50% year-over-year in the first half of 2020 as apartment dwellers leave the city in droves and rents plummet.
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The Chetrit family purchased a property with development rights at 2870 Ocean Ave. in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, for $15.5M, The Real Deal reports. Brokerage firm KSR represented the buyer in the deal. The family plans to develop the property — now home to a Staples store — into a mixed-use multifamily building, TRD reports. The last time the property changed hands was in 1998 when it was purchased by HSPR Associates, property records show.
TOP FINANCING
The S. Hekemian Group scored a $116M construction loan on its six-building, multiuse project, The North Market, located at 1 Mercedes Drive in Montvale, New Jersey. The brokerage did not reveal the name of the institutional lender or the mezzanine lender who provided the debt. The 32.6-acre development is set to include 350 residential units, 250K SF of office, 94.5K SF of retail and a 150-room boutique hotel. JLL’s Thomas Didio represented the borrower.
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Related Cos. secured $78.5M in New York State bonds on its affordable housing units in Hudson Yards at 553 West 30th St., PincusCo. Media reports. The financing, provided by the New York State Housing Finance Agency, will be used across 15 affordable units. Built in 2016, it has 285 units total, according to The Real Deal.
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Guan Yu Li scored a $35M construction loan for its multifamily development project at 1238 63rd St. in Borough Park, Brooklyn, PincusCo. Media reports. Madison Realty Capital provided the debt. The project is set to include 141 new apartments. Guan Yu Li has developed multifamily properties in Brooklyn before, including a 12-unit building in Sheepshead Bay in 2016, according to New York YIMBY.
TOP LEASES
The owner of brokerage firm Helmsley Spear and construction company Falcon Pacific Construction signed a 15.8K SF sublease at Westbrook Partners’ 444 Madison Ave. for the two companies, Commercial Observer reports.
Westbrook Partners is currently marketing eight different spaces for leasing, according to the building’s website. Helmsley Spear was represented in-house by Andrew Simon, Brett Zelner and Kent Swig. Cushman & Wakefield’s Mark Weiss and Jennifer Casey brokered the sublease for Lincoln Financial.
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Law firm Milber Makris Plousadis & Seiden LLP inked a lease to take 25K SF in RPW Group's office building at 100 Manhattanville Roa. in Purchase, New York, Real Estate Weekly reports. Newmark Knight Frank’s Patricia Valenti brokered the lease for the law firm, while the brokerage firm’s Lawrence Ruggieri handled the transaction for the landlord.
The company has offices in Westchester, the Hudson Valley, Bergen County, and in Florida and Connecticut, according to its website. The law firm practices in over a dozen areas, including in real estate and construction law. It lists its current Westchester location at 709 Westchester Ave. in White Plains on its website.
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Westchester-based property management firm Stillman Management Realty expanded its existing lease in a renewal, and it will take up 12.9K SF in RPW Group's 440 Mamaroneck Ave. in Harrison, New York, Real Estate Weekly reports. Budd Wiesenberg and Bob Caruso of CBRE brokered the deal for the tenant. Stillman is a family-run management company, managing properties in New York City, Westchester County, Rockland County, Orange County and Putnam County, according to its website.
