This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet
After a start to 2022 that signaled hope for an accelerated recovery for New York City commercial leasing, activity stayed muted in the Big Apple last week, giving more credence to the idea that the comeback has stalled.
TOP LEASES
Robotics lab Opentrons has almost doubled its Long Island City space at Innolabs. Opentrons previously occupied 48K SF at 45-18 Court Square, but has signed on for 94K SF, Commercial Observer reports. Michael Baraldi of Cushman & Wakefield handled the deal for Opentrons, while Bill Harvey, Jared Horowitz, Jordan Gosin and Emma Kistler of Newmark represented the landlord, a partnership of King Street Properties and GFP Real Estate. Opentrons now occupies the entire second and third floor of the 267K SF adaptive reuse project.
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Silverstein Properties signed eight new leases at 120 Broadway, spanning more than 145K SF of the building, the landlord announced Tuesday. The Original BARK Co., the parent company of pet goods subscription service BarkBox, signed for 51K SF and will take up an entire floor in the final quarter of 2022. The tenant was represented by Savills’ Greg Taubin in the deal. Nonpartisan law and policy institute The Brennan Center for Justice also signed for 50K SF, doubling its current footprint in the building with representation from CBRE’s Stephen Eynon. New York lobbying firm Kasirer took 11K SF, while Rothesay Asset Management US and real estate investment and development firm The Domain Co. took 8K SF and 7K SF respectively. The Capital Grille also renewed its 13K SF, three-floor lease in the building. Silverstein's Joseph Artusa and Harlan Strader III represented the landlord in-house on the deals.
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Jack Resnick & Sons signed 25K SF of new leases at 485 Madison Ave. Law firm Zuckerman Spaeder LLP, which previously occupied the 10th floor as a subtenant, has signed a direct lease for 14K SF. Commercial real estate investment manager Pembrook Capital Management signed for an 8K SF space for five years, taking up the entire second floor, while venture capital firm Nyca Partners took almost 7K SF, expanding its footprint by almost 3K SF and moving to the 17th floor. Asking rents at the 25-story office building were $65 per SF. Adam Rappaport and Brett Greenberg handled the transaction in-house for Jack Resnick & Sons, Zuckerman Spaeder had representation from Avison Young’s Joseph Gervino, and Newmark’s Corey Borg represented Pembrook.
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Verition Fund Management has quadrupled its New York City space with a 38K SF lease, Bloomberg reports. The hedge fund previously occupied a little over 8K SF at 230 Park Ave., and has moved to a space at 245 Park Ave. with capacity for 200 people, previously occupied by WisdomTree Investments Inc. Its new neighbors include asset management firm Midocean Partners and French bank Societe Generale’s U.S. headquarters, Commercial Observer reported. The building at 245 Park has been in the headlines for other reasons in recent years — it was bought by Chinese conglomerate HNA Group for $2.2B in 2017, at the tail end of the rush of Chinese capital in the city. After declaring bankruptcy and shedding other assets, HNA defaulted on its loan at 245 Park in November. SL Green manages the building and holds a minority stake.
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Experiential retail outfit Showfields signed an 11K SF lease in Williamsburg’s Kent House with an asking rent of $125 per SF, according to a release. The 187 Kent Ave. location will serve as a conceptual space for the retailer, which plans to showcase brands including sneaker label GREATS and organic skincare company OGEE within the space. Showfields already has showrooms in Manhattan, Miami and Los Angeles. Retail by MONA’s Brandon Singer, Michael Cody and Max Kreinces handled the transaction.
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Google has signed a 4K SF lease for its first Brooklyn store, which is expected to open later this spring, Commercial Observer reports. The tech giant’s first space opened at 76 Ninth Ave. in Chelsea last year. Its second space will be at 134 North Sixth St. in Williamsburg, owned by L3 Capital. Lantern Real Estate represented Google in the transaction, while L3 had in-house representation.
TOP SALES
CBRE Investment Management has purchased two warehouse buildings from Wildflower Ltd. for $230M in an off-market deal, Commercial Observer reports. CBRE's Doug Middleton and Brian Fiumara represented the real estate firm's asset management arm as well as Wildflower in the deal for12595 and 12555 Flatlands Ave., both in East New York and leased to Amazon.
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DNA Development sold off its 31K SF building at 12 West 48th St. for $49.5M, Pincus Co. first reported. The sum is $20M less than when the building was first put on the market in 2018. It was acquired by 12 West 48th Street LLC, according to property records.
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United Construction & Development Group bought the Flushing development site 31-01 39th Ave. from owner Young Nian Group for $103M, Crain’s New York Business reports. The property was acquired with a $68M loan from the Bank of China, and Young Nian had representation from law firm Kasowitz Benson Torres during the process. United is led by Chris Jiashu Xu, who developed Skyline Tower, Queens' tallest building. Young Nian Group had planned a megaproject at 31-09 39th Ave., but it is unclear what Xu's plans for the property are.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
JPMorgan Chase lent The Durst Organization $100M to fund a $150M renovation of the landlord's 40-story Midtown office building at 825 Third Ave., Commercial Observer reports. The building was vacated by Advance Media before the pandemic, and the property giant has been working on the renovation, bringing it to the leasing market with asking rents of between $78 and $98 per SF.
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Deerfield has secured a 15-year loan from AIG for $440M to refinance its life sciences innovation campus at 345 Park Ave. South, Commercial Observer reports. A CBRE team of P.J. Finley, Tom Traynor and James Millon handled negotiations between Deerfield and AIG. Deerfield moved its headquarters to the property as it redeveloped the 12-story, 300K SF building near Madison Square Park.
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Burnett Equities has landed $71M in financing for the Hotel Martinique at 1260 Broadway, PincusCo reports. The debt, originated by Columbia Pacific, will go toward the rehab construction of the hotel, which is part of Hilton's Curio Collection.
