This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet
As the first snowstorm of 2021 was preparing to crash into New York, the city's leasing, sales and financing markets slowed substantially.
TOP LEASES
The American Musical and Dramatic Academy inked a 10-year, 34K SF lease at Zar Property NY's 250 West 54th St. last fall, a person familiar with the lease told Bisnow this week. SquareFoot’s Jeffrey Rosenblatt and James Cleary brokered the deal for the tenant, while Zar Property NY was represented in-house by Dario and David Zar. The performing arts college and conservatory will take up the penthouse and floors 10 through 12 in a deal in which asking rent was $63 per SF. The building has a Subway restaurant on the ground floor.
Comcast will also take up 23K SF at Zar Property NY’s 109 Wooster St., a person familiar with the lease told Bisnow. The lease is for 10 years and asking rent was $99 per SF. Avison Young brokered the deal for the tenant while Dario and David Zar brokered the deal in-house for the landlord.
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Another entertainment tenant secured space this week. Apple TV+ penned a 90K SF lease at Kaufman Astoria Studios at 34-11 36th St. in Queens at the end of last year, The Real Deal reports. The lease includes a soundstage, production space and office space, and asking rent was $55 per SF. The 84-foot-tall building, which is newly finished, was designed by Gluck + Architecture, according to QueensBeans. This was one of several studio leases signed by a streaming service in 2020.
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Smart Design is moving out of Manhattan. The business design company signed a 21K SF lease at Building 127 in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Commercial Observer reports. Smart Design will leave behind its current space at RXR Realty’s Starrett-Lehigh Building in Chelsea. LegacyNY Commercial Real Estate’s Ken Fishel brokered the lease for Smart Design, while the Brooklyn Navy Yard was represented in-house.
TOP SALES
An affiliate of investment company Silverpeak purchased the luxury apartment building 15 Park Row for over $41M, property records show. Park Row Realty LP, with an address at 15 Park Row, sold the property. Meridian Capital Group’s Helen Hwang, Karen Wiedenmann, Brian Szczapa, Yasmin Kheradpey and Ernie Nichols brokered the sale for Park Row Realty. The building, located in the Financial District, was built in 1899.
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The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America purchased two commercial condominium units from Philips International at 40 Rector St. in Manhattan for $25M, The Real Deal reports. The Class-B office building spans more than 575K SF and has 19 floors. Average rents in the building were around $41 per SF in 2019, according to the online office space listing website OptimalSpaces.
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Steel Equities paid Princetown Real Estate nearly $18.2M for 121 Morgan Ave. in Williamsburg, property records show. The 47K SF industrial space was built in 1920, according to LoopNet. Steel Equities has recently picked up industrial properties to use as production spaces; it inked a lease with Netflix to take up space at one of its nearby Brooklyn properties last year.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Amazon is one step closer to opening a new Red Hook last-mile facility. Thor Equities scored a total of $231M in financing on its industrial property at 280 Richards St., Newmark announced. The e-commerce behemoth inked a 20-year, 312K SF lease at the property in November, Commercial Observer reported. A foreign lender provided $155M in debt to recapitalize joint-venture equity, and Apollo Real Estate Finance lent the developer $76M for construction. When construction is finished, the property will contain 130,200 SF of warehouse space, 21,300 SF of office space and 160,600 SF of parking space, according to Newmark.
Newmark’s Jordan Roeschlaub, Dustin Stolly and Nick Scribani brokered the arrangement of both financing packages for the borrower. Dominick Calisto of Newmark also brokered the construction debt for the borrower; Kevin Walsh, Brian Schulz and Brett Siegel of Newmark brokered the additional financing. Thor has owned the property since 2005.
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Arch Cos. and AB Capstone secured a $106M construction loan on their mixed-use building at 3-50 St. Nicholas Ave., dubbed Myrtle Point, lender Madison Realty Capital announced. The building sits on the border of Brooklyn and Queens and is set to hold 133 units of housing, 30% of which will be affordable. The building will also have 130K SF of retail space.
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The Sela Group borrowed $63.3M from Madison Realty Capital for three of its properties, PincusCo Media reports, including at 29 Ryerson St. and 256 Flushing Ave. in Brooklyn as well as 39-35 27th St. in Long Island City. Madison sold the properties to Sela in 2019.
UPDATE, FEB. 2, 8:30 P.M. ET: This story has been updated with new details on leases at Zar Property NY's Manhattan buildings.
