This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet
Activity in New York City was a little muted as the weather warmed last week — save for some big projects in Brooklyn landing new and expanding tenants.
TOP LEASES
The New York City Economic Development Corp. has a new tenant at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. Fashion manufacturer New York Embroidery Studio has agreed to take 80K SF for its second location, in addition to its 307 West 36th St. outpost. The manufacturer, which was founded in 2001 by Michelle Feinberg and pivoted from fashion to personal protective equipment manufacturing early in the coronavirus pandemic, was represented by WRE Consulting in the deal. The Embroidery Studio expects to create 500 new jobs and $73M in economic benefits to the area with the new location. Cushman & Wakefield represented NYCEDC in the transaction. Asking rents for the space were between $15 and $25 per SF.
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Famed jeweler Swarovski has signed a lease for a new two-floor flagship on Fifth Avenue, Women's Wear Daily reports. The crystal specialist will occupy a total of 14K SF at 680 Fifth Ave. starting in 2023. The building, first constructed in 1957, is owned by Josef Buchman and managed by Valor Capital Partners. The storefront was last leased by Gap, which vacated in 2018 after a two-decade tenure. Cushman & Wakefield’s Laura Pomerantz and Steven Soutendijk represented the landlord in the deal.
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A platform for buying, selling and trading used video and photography equipment has more than doubled its space with a new lease in Industry City. MPB received $70M in Series D funding, allowing it to expand from its previous 19K SF lease to take up 44K SF and move to Building 7 in the 6M SF Industry City campus, according to a release. The property is owned by a joint venture of Jamestown, Belvedere Capital and Angelo Gordon.
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The Durst Organization has a new tenant at One Five One on West 42nd Street. Investment firm Varagon Capital Partners has agreed to take 32K SF for five years at the Durst Organization’s trophy Midtown building, which is now 90% leased. Durst was represented in-house by Rocco Romeo, Tom Bow and Tanya Grimaldo; Newmark’s Leo Paytas and Brad Needleman provided representation for Varagon.
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HRC Corp. has three new tenants at its Flatiron Suites building at 156 Fifth Ave., Commercial Observer reported. Financial software firm Codat has signed a 16.5K SF lease for an entire floor of the building. Order, which makes billing and purchase software for businesses and was previously called Negotiatus, has also leased a full 16.5K SF floor. Investment firm Encourage Capital will take 8K SF. Asking rents for all three deals were $64 per SF, with Eric Cagner and Dylan Weisman of Newmark representing the landlord in all three deals. Codat and Order both had representation from Savitt Partners’ Elliot Zelinger, while Encourage Capital was represented by Andrew Zang and Gregory Albert of Savills.
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Furniture retailer Blu Dot is taking 12K SF at Vornado’s 715 Lexington Ave., Commercial Observer reported. The lease will be the retailer’s second spot in Manhattan, in addition to its 79 Madison Ave. store. Sinvin’s Sarah Shannon provided representation for Blu Dot, while landlord Vornado Realty Trust had in-house representation from Jason Morrison and Edward Hogan.
TOP SALES
Criterion Group of Astoria and Seattle’s Columbia Pacific Advisors have bought four sites together as part of a joint venture, Crain’s New York Business reports. Three sites — 3536 Peartree Ave., 1820 Webster Ave. and 4855 Baldwin St. — are in the Bronx, while a fourth site, 900 Wyckoff Ave., is in Brooklyn. The sites, which will be used for fleet vehicle parking, sold for $36M and added 6 acres to the joint venture's portfolio in New York City.
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Developer Carmel Partners shelled out $200M for a Long Island City property at 43-30 24th St., The Real Deal reports. Carmel reportedly plans to build an 850K SF, 66-story tower on the site, which it purchased from Stawski Partners. Fried Frank’s Jonathan Mechanic, along with Branton Realty’s Woody Heller, represented the seller.
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An entity named Fulton Property Owner LLC paid $33.6M to Tower Holdings Group for a vacant lot at 1215 Fulton St. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crain’s reports. The buyer of the property, which has frontage on Halsey and Bedford streets, was represented by Adam Koplewicz in deed records. Acres Capital provided the buyer with a $20M loan on the property, according to city property records.
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An unnamed overseas investor has purchased an Upper West Side luxury apartment building for $9.5M, according to a release. The building, previously owned by a joint venture of Alchemy Ventures and Z+G Property Group, is located at 203 West 80th St. and features 10 recently renovated, free-market units. JLL’s Hall Oster, Paul Smalbeck, Teddy Galligan, Conrad Martin and Braedon Gait represented the sellers.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Brookfield Properties secured $438M in construction financing from Apollo Global Management for its South Bronx development, Bankside, The Real Deal reported. Its first Mott Haven development, Third on Bankside, opened to residents earlier this month. Apollo’s loan will finance Brookfield’s Lincoln on Bankside, the second phase of the development, which will feature over 900 apartments over street-level retail.
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RJ Capital Holdings has secured financing for its mixed-use development at 107-02 Queens Blvd., Commercial Observer reports. Deutsche Bank provided the $70M floating-rate inventory loan, pegged to SOFR, to replace the construction loan on the 10-story, 74-unit condo project that includes 27K SF of commercial space. Meridian Capital Group's Morris Betesh, Alex Bailkin and Eli Serebrowski arranged the financing.
