This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet
All manner of commercial real estate activity picked up in New York City this week, including the signing of the largest new office lease of the year so far — an expansion, at that.
TOP LEASES
Biotechnology company Schrödinger Inc. penned a 17-year, 109K SF lease across three floors at 1540 Broadway in Midtown — scoring 18 months of free rent in the process, the New York Post reports. The deal is a nearly 45K SF expansion of its footprint at its current office at Kamber Management’s Tower 45 at 120 West 45th St. It inked a lease at the space for 63K SF in 2017 for $82 per SF, Commercial Observer reported at the time. It will pay in the $70s per SF in its office space in the new lease, with rent going up over time.
Howard Fiddle, Eric Deutsch, Christie Harle and Ben Joseph of CBRE brokered the deal for the landlord, Edge Fund Advisors, while Peter Van Duyne and Alex Lachmund of Cushman & Wakefield brokered the lease for the tenant, per the Post.
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Bill Gates-backed biotechnology company c16 Biosciences Inc. signed a lease to take up 20K SF at the life sciences building Hudson Research Center, a joint venture between Taconic Partners and Silverstein Properties, located at 619 West 54th St., the landlord announced.
The tenant, which will move in this summer, was founded in 2017 and has its current address at 180 Varick St. in SoHo. It manufactures palm-oil alternatives, according to its website. CBRE’s Jonathan Schifrin and Alessio Tropeano brokered the deal for the tenant alongside Taconic’s Matthew Weir. CBRE’s John Isaacs and Alex Erdos represented the tenant.
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Extreme Department Store inked a 10-year lease at The Feil Organization’s Concourse Plaza at 200 East 161 St. in the Bronx, the landlord announced. The 15K SF space is one of several Extreme Department Store locations throughout the outer boroughs. The deal comes amid a tumultuous time for department stores and malls across the country. Extreme Department Store will join Bank of America and Santander as a tenant in the building. Randall Briskin represented the landlord in-house in the transaction, while Retail Zone’s Gabriel Saff brokered the deal for the tenant.
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Outerwear company Maximilian penned a lease at Joseph P. Day Realty Corp.’s 32 East 57th St., Commercial Observer reports. The retailer has a location inside the Bloomingdale's in Garden City as well as locations in White Plains and Paramus, New Jersey, according to its website. This is its first New York City location. Richard Skulnik and Lindsay Zegans of Ripco Real Estate arranged the deal for the tenant, while Anthony Stanford and Henry Rossignol of CBRE represented the landlord, per CO.
TOP SALES
Peter Fine’s Bolivar Development purchased a 140K SF development site at 1959 Jerome Ave. in the Bronx from Tremont Garage Realty Corp. for nearly $14M, Cushman & Wakefield announced. The new owner is adding to an adjacent development project, which now totals 280K SF with the purchase. C&W’s Jonathan Squires, Michael Fioravanti and Josh Neustadter brokered the deal for the seller.
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The Chapman Group bought two Lenox Hill buildings on East 62nd Street from MacAndrews & Forbes for a total of $35M, Crain’s New York Business reports. The first building, purchased for $25M, is a six-story office building at 35 East 62nd built in 1910, according to StreetEasy. The second building, purchased for $10M, is a five-story office building and was built in 1945, per StreetEasy. Office sales around the city have been sparse — only four traded hands in the first quarter of the year.
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Achs Management Corp. purchased 73-97 Empire Blvd. in Brooklyn from the David Glass Trust for over $15M, property records show. The Crown Heights building was built in 1913 as one of many parking garages along "Automobile Row" built for Brooklyn Dodger game-goers to park their cars and walk to Ebbetts Field, according to the historic preservation program Six To Celebrate. Achs owns many retail properties throughout Brooklyn.
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Coney Island-based developer The Loketch Group paid $14M for an apartment building at 1010 Bedford Ave. from a Monroe, New York-based LLC, property records show. The six-story building was converted from a church in 2014, according to New York YIMBY.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Bruman Realty scored $53M in financing on its apartment building at 1134 Fulton St. in Bed-Stuy, PincusCo. Media reports. Arbor Realty Trust provided the debt. The eight-story, 116-unit luxury multifamily building was built in 2017 and its apartments have ranged from over $2,200 per month to nearly $5K per month, according to StreetEasy.
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West Harlem Group Assistance Inc. scored an $18.2M loan from Merchants Capital for its affordable housing building, the Mannie Wilson Towers, located at 565 Manhattan Ave. in Harlem, the lender announced. The 30-year term debt on the 102-unit property is an HDC Fannie Risk Share loan. The housing is part of the federal Section 202 program and is reserved for seniors who make less than 50% of the area median income.
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Falcon Properties scored a five-year fixed-rate $17.5M loan for its property at 147 West 35th St., B6 Real Estate Advisors announced. Signature Bank provided the debt. The office and retail space is 18 stories and was built in 1927, according to its website. B6 Real Estate Advisors’ Dylan Kane and Drew Ahlers brokered the debt.
