This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet
Office leasing volume inched up in July from the month prior in Manhattan, propelled by large renewals and extensions propelling the overall total upward, according to a new report from Colliers, but still below the space leased in July 2020.
But while there was more ink on paper this month compared to June, Manhattan's office glut remained unaffected, with availability up from 11% in July 2020 to 17.1% last month, according to Colliers. Supply is set to continue to outpace demand as construction on new projects finishes and huge leases run out. This discrepancy is pushing asking rents down: average asking rent dropped from $79 in July 2020 to $72.72 last month.
With that, here are the biggest deals struck in New York over the past week.
TOP LEASES
In the largest lease signed in the city so far this year, law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP renewed its 400K SF lease at Brookfield’s One New York Plaza for more than 10 years, the landlord announced. Companies such as Morgan Stanley and Macmillan also have space in the 50-story Financial District building.
Steve Siegel, Craig Reicher, Tim Dempsey, Ramneek Rikhy and Ariel Ball of CBRE brokered the deal for the tenant alongside Fried Frank’s Jennifer Yashar, Jonathan Mechanic and Meyer Last. Jeremiah Larkin, Mikael Nahmias and Hayley Shoener brokered the deal in-house for the landlord.
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Wells Fargo extended its 103K SF lease at SL Green’s 100 Park Ave., according to Colliers' monthly office market snapshot. The bank has been at the location since 2009, expanded to its current footprint in 2011 and extended its lease once before in 2016, Commercial Observer reported at the time.
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Data management company Cockroach Labs signed a 65K SF lease at AFIAA U.S. Investment’s 125 West 25th St., according to Colliers. The company is subleasing the space, which spans four floors, from Peloton, Crain’s New York Business reported. This is a move from Cockroach's current location at 53 West 23rd St., where it has taken up 16K SF since 2018. The new location sits along Manhattan’s so-called Silicon Alley in Midtown South, where tech tenants — large and small — have flocked to over the past decade. Cockroach Labs was started by former employees of Google.
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Google inked a deal to expand its footprint by 59K SF in Vornado and Related’s 85 10th Ave., according to Colliers. It moved into the building with 180K SF in 2014 and expanded to 240K SF, Commercial Observer reported. The new expansion brings its total footprint up to nearly 300K SF.
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Blockchain company Chainalysis has subleased 39K SF at L&L Holding Co.’s 114 Fifth Ave., Savills announced. It will move into the space sometime during this quarter. Marc Shapses, Seth Wasserman, and Roi Shleifer of Savills brokered the deal for Chainalysis and Savills’ Ken Ruderman and Gary Stein brokered the deal for the unnamed sublessor, per the brokerage firm.
TOP SALES
AB & Sons, owned by brothers Isaac and Eli Chetrit, paid Black Spruce Management $200M for a 50% stake in a 950-unit apartment building portfolio in Manhattan, Commercial Observer reports. The portfolio includes four groups of apartment buildings in Upper Manhattan and one cluster in Midtown, The Real Deal previously reported.
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AEW Management purchased 163 Varick St. in Hudson Square from APF Properties for $86M, property records show. The building, also known as 60 Charlton St., was redeveloped by APF into a Class-A office and retail building after the seller paid $65M for the development site in 2017, New York YIMBY reported. Ares Management provided the buyer with a $60M loan to purchase the property, Real Estate Weekly reports.
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Edison, New Jersey-based wholesaler My Sales LLC bought a 66K SF industrial building at 75 Onderdonk Ave. in Ridgewood, Queens, from Jason Richard Realty for $25M, property records show. The building was first marketed a year ago for over $27M, QNS reported at the time. B6 Real Estate Advisors’ Thomas Donovan, Robert Rappa, Tommy Lin, Eugene Kim and Bradley Rutkin were marketing the property.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Real estate investment trust Paramount Group refinanced 1301 Sixth Ave., its Midtown office tower, with a five-year, interest-only loan, it announced Monday, declining to identify the lender. The deal consists of two loans: a $500M loan that has an interest rate of 3.11% and a $360M loan that has an interest rate of 2.65%, per the REIT. The 45-story, 1.7M SF office building has more than 500K SF of availability, according to Paramount's website.
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Stellar Management borrowed $785M from Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and the Bank of Montreal to refinance several of its SoHo office buildings, PincusCo. Media reports. Buildings at 233 Spring St. and 24 Vandam St. were among those in the deal, property records show.
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Deutsche Bank provided the Moinian Group $132M in debt to refinance the landlord’s 17 Battery Place — also known as the Whitehall Building — in the Financial District, PincusCo. Media reports. The 31-story office building is a designated landmark and boasts tenants such as Lewin, Gavino & Co. and the Immigrant Justice Corps.
