This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet
Activity picked up in the first days of October after a historically slow September to finish a painful Q3 in New York City commercial real estate.
TOP LEASES
Nonprofit philanthropy The Rockefeller Foundation penned a two-floor sublease agreement at 245 Park Ave. as it awaits construction on its headquarters at 420 Fifth Ave., The Real Deal reports. Major League Baseball, the sublandlord, was represented by CBRE's Daniel Wilpon, Scott Gottlieb, Will Stark and Jeff Frenkel. The brokerage's Gregory Tosko represented the subtenant.
The deal comes as the sublease market makes up the highest percentage of overall office availability since the Great Financial Crisis, showing the uncertainty and disruption within the sector. The sublease is short-term, giving The Rockefeller Foundation the ability to sublease the space through October 2022, TRD reports. The amount of space the nonprofit will take up was not reported, but the MLB’s office space in the building, which is still owned by HNA Group, totals 220K SF.
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Online wellness platform HealthQuarters signed a 14K SF lease for a flagship location at Renaissance Properties New York's 632 Broadway, which will span three floors and include clinical and wellness space, HealthQuarters announced. The company is set to partner with Mount Sinai Health System, which will staff the center with its health professionals. HealthQuarters’ headquarters is located in Union Square. Lantern Real Estate's Matthew Seigel and Skye Taylor brokered the deal.
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ETF market-maker Old Mission inked a 10-year lease renewal, nearly quadrupling its office space to over 11K SF at Silverstein Properties’ 120 Broadway in Downtown Manhattan, the landlord announced. Old Mission will move from the ninth floor of the 40-story building to the 11th floor.
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As restaurants across the city ponder their viability as winter months approach and indoor seating is still limited, owners of Endswell, a French-American restaurant in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, have signed a new 10-year SF lease at 71 Lafayette Ave., previously home to Irish pub Mullanes Bar and Grill. The lease covers a two-level, 3,200 SF space, Commercial Observer reports.
Mullanes was one of many restaurant casualties of the coronavirus pandemic, as restaurateurs were forced to close their doors for months last winter and spring. Vincent David owns the building, where asking rent was $14K per month; James Monteleone of All Points Real Estate brokered the deal, CO reports.
TOP SALES
Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital purchased Silvercup Studios, a three-campus film and television production studio — where Emmy-award-winning series such as Sex and the City and The Sopranos were filmed — for $500M, the two companies announced this week. The 240K SF of soundstages and 265K SF of offices are divided between the Bronx and Long Island City, Queens. The joint venture also acquired the production studio's lighting company, Silvertrucks, as part of the deal. This is the latest in the team’s studio acquisition trend: Hackman and Square Mile have previously bought seven media production properties.
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Silverback Development bought a parking garage at 580 Gerard Ave. in the Bronx for $16.9M from Emmes Asset Management Co., property records show. The building, built in 1951, sits on a lot of over 31K SF, according to PropertyShark. Silverback’s past and ongoing projects in Washington, D.C., Connecticut and Florida in addition to New York are largely multifamily properties, according to its website. As most of the real estate market is in flux amid the pandemic, the industrial real estate market has held strong, with assets selling at prices higher than before the crisis hit and rents on the rise.
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Nelson Management Group, the property management arm of Global One Real Estate Fund II, purchased a 59-unit apartment building spanning nearly 51K SF across six stories at 25-98 36th St. in Astoria, Queens, for $15.6M, Global One announced. The seller is Andrew Latos, as executor of the estate of John Xikis, a spokesperson for Nelson Management Group told Bisnow. Xikis bought the property in 1974, according to the most recent deed for the address in the city's property records. He died in 2018. Iron Castle Group’s Ted Mastakouris brokered the sale.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Sotheby’s International Realty scored $483M to refinance its Upper East Side headquarters at 1334 York Ave., Newmark Knight Frank announced. The floating-rate loan provided by Barclays has a five-year term. Newmark Knight Frank’s Dustin Stolly, Jordan Roeschlaub, Chris Kramer, Nick Scribani and Dominick Calisto brokered the debt for the borrower. The property, which Sotheby's owns and occupies, is 10 stories and 506K SF.
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Lipa Friedman's Halcyon Management secured a $66.5M loan on a 351-unit multifamily property at 95 Bedford Ave. in Brooklyn, PincusCo. Media reports. New York Community Bank provided the debt. The eight-story building includes one- and two-bedroom luxury apartments with amenities such as an indoor pool and an indoor gym, according to StreetEasy.
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UNG Realty Co. scored a $44.6M loan on its eight-story office building at 251 West 39th St., PincusCo. Media reports. LoanCore Capital provided the debt. The borrower bought the property for around $30M in 2018.
