This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet
As the world eagerly put 2020 in the rearview mirror and looked toward 2021, some big leases, sales and financing deals closed.
TOP LEASES
Justworks penned a 270K SF lease renewal at 55 Water St., according to Colliers’ Manhattan Office Market Snapshot for Q4 2020. The renewal was the second-largest signed in all of Manhattan during the final quarter of a tumultuous year for the office market. Justworks signed the original lease in 2018 when it relocated from the Starrett-Lehigh building.
Justworks didn't specify the term of the lease in its announcement at the time but stated that it was “long-term.” Asking rent was $58 per SF, and Howard Fiddle, Evan Haskell, Brad Gerla, Dave Caperna and Mary Ann Tighe of CBRE represented the landlord, Retirement Systems of Alabama, in the original lease.
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The city of New York inked a 157K SF renewal at 250 Broadway, according to Colliers’ Manhattan Office Market Snapshot for Q4 2020. AmTrust Realty Corp. owns the building, where it also has its headquarters. The New York City Housing Authority moved out of the building in 2017 after 50 years.
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The Guggenheim Museum signed a 31,200 SF lease renewal with New York City Economic Development Corp. at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, Commercial Observer reports. The museum uses the space for storage. The building, located at 80 58th St. in Brooklyn, also has some new, smaller tenants, including Cohen Mattresses, Button Down Factory and Max Wang Studio, all of which signed leases between 1K and 5K SF. A Cushman & Wakefield team represented the landlord.
TOP SALES
CubeSmart ended 2020 with three new properties, The Real Deal reports. In the largest of three transactions, the storage company purchased a 79K SF logistics property at 338 Third Ave. in Gowanus for $77M. It also bought 33-24 Woodside Ave. in Queens for $48.5M and secured a ground lease for a 76K SF building at 163 Sixth St., also in Gowanus, according to TRD. In property records filed for the Gowanus and Woodside sales, Steven Novenstein, the president and co-founder of Storage Deluxe, signed for the seller entity, Fordham Road Storage Partners LLC. Novenstein also signed for the lessor LLC for the ground lease.
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Lincoln Equities Group sold a 196K SF logistics warehouse at 344 Duffy Ave. in Hicksville on Long Island for $74.5M, JLL Capital Markets announced. The buyer was not disclosed but was described as an institutional investor. The building is fully leased to Home Depot. A JLL Capital Markets team led by Jose Cruz brokered the deal for the seller.
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Affordable housing developer Jonathan Rose Cos. bought a 190-unit multifamily property for $64M at 350 St. Ann’s Ave. in the Bronx, The Real Deal reports. Omni New York was the seller. The nearly 86K SF affordable apartment building, dubbed Thessalonica Court Apartments, was built in 1985 and is eight stories tall.
TOP FINANCING
SL Green took out a $360M loan from Aareal Capital Corp. to refinance its Midtown office building at 100 Park Ave, Commercial Observer reports. Steve Kohn, Alexander Hernandez, Adam Spies, Kevin Donner, Alex Lapidus and Meredith Donovan of Cushman & Wakefield brokered the deal for SL Green. Tenants such as Regus and Wells Fargo take up space in the building. The building underwent a $72M redevelopment over a decade ago, according to SL Green’s website.
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L+M Development Partners, Type A Projects, BronxWorks and the city of New York scored a $349M construction loan for the first phase of Bronx Point, their development project along the Harlem River waterfront near the 145th Street Bridge, the development team announced. The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the New York City Housing Development Corp., Empire State Development, Wells Fargo and other private lenders provided the debt. The first phase of the project, which is set to add 1,045 units to the area once it is complete, will include the construction of 542 permanently affordable units.
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Delshah Capital scored $180M in refinancing on its Morningside Heights development project, The Real Deal reports. Arbor Realty Trust provided the debt. Delshah is developing 205 condominium units at the building, located at 30 Morningside Drive.
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Bernstein Real Estate scored $60M in refinancing on its office building at 216 East 45th St., a spokesperson for Meridian Capital Group told Bisnow. Meridian’s Allan Lieberman, Rael Gervis and Eli Finkel brokered the deal for the borrower. The term of the loan is five years, and it has a fixed interest rate of 3.5%. The lender was not disclosed.
