This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet
The Midtown office leasing market continued to show signs of life this week, as Blackstone expanded its headquarters, a landmark life sciences deal was struck and a longtime New York business came back from the dead.
TOP LEASES
Mount Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine inked a 165K lease at The Georgetown Co.’s 787 11th Ave., Crain’s New York Business reports. The former Packards Motor Building, located in Hell’s Kitchen, was bought by Georgetown for over $255M. The company is transforming it into a life sciences research and office building. JLL's Peter Riguardi and Steven Rotter brokered the deal for the landlord, while JLL's Rob Martin and Barbara Winter negotiated the lease for Mount Sinai.
Mount Sinai is one of two new tenants set to take up space in the building. Neri Oxman, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who is known for art that incorporates biology and engineering among sciences, also signed an agreement to take up 36K SF at 787 11th, REBusiness reported.
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Blackstone is expanding its headquarters by 80K SF in Rudin Management Co.’s 345 Park Ave., the landlord announced. The expansion across the third, 11th and 12th floors of the Midtown building brings total space the investment company occupies in the building up to 720K SF. The lease term is until 2028. Rudin’s Tom Keating represented the landlord in the negotiation.
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Lord & Taylor's new parent company, the Saadia Group, penned a sublease agreement to take up nearly 41K SF at RPW Group’s 275 Madison Ave. in Midtown, Savills announced. The space will be the new headquarters for Lord & Taylor and New York & Co., two retail companies Saadia Group purchased out of bankruptcy last fall. Savills’ Gabe Marans, Andrew Zang and Greg Albert brokered the deal for the tenant. Sublandlord Cushman & Wakefield took over the space when it bought Massey Knakal in 2015. The brokerage firm had previously signed a 15-year lease in 2014. The companies will be operated as e-commerce retailers moving forward, according to WWD, and are set to move in this spring.
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Italy-based fashion retailer Pinko will take up nearly 5K SF across three floors at 143 Spring St., Commercial Observer reports. Carini Group’s Alex Carini and Cristina Roccisano negotiated the lease for the tenant, while Cushman & Wakefield’s Michael Azarian and James Ariola brokered the deal for Bed Bath & Beyond, the sublandlord in the deal.
TOP SALES
Holy Trinity St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church closed a 49-year ground lease deal valued at $60M with Hellenic Classical Charter Schools at 1641 Richmond Ave. in Staten Island, KI Legal announced. HCCS is planning to develop a new building on the property, which will house grades 3 through 8. KI Legal’s Maria Filindarakis arranged the deal. The Brooklyn-based school network also has a location in Park Slope, according to its website.
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Wharton Properties sold a $31M interest in its 103 North Fourth St. in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, property records show. While Wharton Properties owner, Jeff Sutton, signed for both the seller and the buyer LLCs in city filing documents, a Korean real estate investor that affiliated itself with Wharton was joining forces with the landlord on the property and bought the interest, The Real Deal reported. The New York City Department of Buildings categorizes the address as K-7, the building class for funeral homes, according to PropertyShark.
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Buffalo-based Life Storage purchased a 70K SF building at 134-31 Montauk St. in Jamaica, Queens, from SNL Development for $36M, property records show. The storage company has already been occupying the building. Storage has seen a pandemic boost in business, like other types of industrial tenants. Storage companies have made several big deals in Brooklyn and Queens since last March.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
In a big step for an emerging life sciences cluster, development duo Taconic Partners and Nuveen Real Estate landed a $600M capitalization package to fund the development of its life sciences building at 125 West End Ave. on Manhattan’s West Side, Commercial Observer reports. The deal includes a $393M construction loan financed by Apollo Global Management and Oaktree Management. LaSalle Investment Management also acquired an equity stake in the property as part of the deal.
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Eric Miller scored nearly $34M in refinancing on four of his Bronxwood multifamily properties, PincusCo. Media reports. The buildings, at 733 Arnow Ave. and 1944, 1954 and 1980 Unionport Road, span 342 units. Sterling National Bank provided the debt.
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Cammeby’s International Group secured $44M in refinancing for 305 apartments in Jackson Heights, Queens, PincusCo. Media reports. Capital One provided the debt for the apartment buildings at 37-06 80th St., 88-02 37th Ave., 80-30 Broadway, 37-17 75th St. and 40-42 61st St.
