This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet: HSBC Signs U.S. HQ Lease At The Spiral
New York City’s office market, on the leasing and sales side, is seeing a continued rebound in activity, headlined by a long-rumored headquarters deal coming to fruition Monday.
TOP LEASES
HSBC signed a 265K SF lease with Tishman Speyer for its new U.S. headquarters at 66 Hudson Blvd., the companies announced. The 65-story tower, known as The Spiral and designed by the Bjarke Ingels Group, is nearing completion and targeting LEED Gold certification. HSBC will take up three floors in the building and will also open a street-level space as part of its 20-year lease. Move-in for The Spiral’s first tenants is expected to take place this summer, with 70% of the building now pre-leased to tenants such as Pfizer and asset manager AllianceBernstein. Tishman Speyer had in-house representation for the transaction, while JLL’s Peter Riguardi, Matt Astrachan, Ken Siegel, Mitch Konsker and Will McGarry handled the deal for HSBC.
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Private investment management company Wellington Management has signed on for 71K SF at Columbia Property Trust's 799 Broadway, Bloomberg reports. Mitchell Konsker, Benjamin Bass and Sam Seiler of JLL represented the landlord in the deal, while Steven Rotter and Randy Abend, also of JLL, represented Wellington. The investment manager will occupy four floors, serving approximately 250 employees, and asking rents in the newly developed building were $175 per SF, Commercial Observer reports.
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Restaurant Depot will take 64K SF of industrial space at an A&H Acquisition Staten Island property, Commercial Observer reported. The wholesale food retailer will occupy 1745-1801 South Ave., as arranged by Allie Beyda on Metropolitan Skyline on the tenant’s behalf, while A&H handled it in-house.
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Fisher Brothers has leased 20K SF at 605 Third Ave., according to a release. Law firm Michelman & Robinson LLP will move from its current space at 800 Third Ave. in October this year to the 30th floor of the Midtown building as the company aims to continue growing its NYC presence. Marc Packman, Charles P. Laginestra, Clark Briffel and Josh Fisher negotiated in-house for the landlord, with help from Cushman & Wakefield’s Maria Travlos, Michael Baraldi, Bruce Mosler, Lou D’Avanzo and Andrew Ross. Newmark’s Scott Brown represented the law tenant.
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Mount Sinai has leased 17K SF at 373 Park Ave. South for a cardiology office for 10 years, according to a release. Asking rent for the ATCO Properties & Management-owned space, encompassing the entire 11th and 12th floors of the 12-story building, was $59 per SF. Other tenants in the 110K SF building include microbetting company Simplebet, PR firm Launchsquad and Mexican restaurant Dos Caminos. Helmsley Spear’s Leonard Zimmerman represented the tenant and Kate Goodman represented the landlord in-house.
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Nonprofit organization National Alliance on Mental Illness of New York City will sublease 14K SF from HIV/AIDs nonprofit Gay Men’s Health Crisis for 18 years, Commercial Observer reported. NAMINYC will occupy part of the eighth floor at the 21-story, George Comfort & Sons-owned 307 West 38th St. building, where asking rents were $35 per SF. Benjamin Blumenthal of Noah & Co. represented the sublandlord, while David Kaplansky at Colliers represented NAMINYC.
TOP SALES
Vornado is under contract to sell its Center Building office at 33-00 Northern Blvd. for roughly $175M, it disclosed in its earnings report this week. New York real estate equity firm 60 Guilders has agreed to buy the building, which is almost entirely leased to long-term government tenants, including the Metropolitan Transit Authority, The Real Deal reports. Adam Spies and Doug Harmon of Cushman & Wakefield lead the team negotiating the sale of the former factory building, which spans 550K SF and sits in Long Island City, where the office market has recovered faster than in Manhattan. Vornado purchased the property for $142M in 2015.
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TF Cornerstone has purchased a 95-unit multifamily property in Williamsburg, according to a release. 223 North Eighth St., known as The Berkley, sold for $71M and includes 76 market-rate and 19 affordable apartments. A JLL team including Jeffrey Julien, Rob Hinckley, Steven Rutman, John Taylor and Joy Ryoo represented seller Trinity Place Holdings Inc. in the deal, Commercial Observer reported. The deal increases TF Cornerstone’s Williamsburg presence, which includes a January 2020 acquisition of 250 North 10th St.
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Zenith Industrial Chemicals has sold its 572 Richmond Terrace industrial property to Zion Judaica for $6.2M, according to a release. The 36K SF Staten Island property has M3-1 zoning and five loading bays, as well as 24-foot ceiling heights, and recently installed new gas heating units and LED lighting. Ariel Property Advisors’ Stephen Vorvolakos and Sean Kelly arranged the sale.
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150 Manhattan Ave., a five-story, mixed-use building on the Upper West Side, was sold to a private investor for $7.5M, according to a release. The 11K SF building has 17 apartments and two fully leased retail spaces, occupied by a grocery story and a hair salon, and receives income from a cell operator with a tower on the property’s roof. It also has 5K SF of air rights, which could be used to build on the existing structure. JLL's Braedon Gait, Teddy Galligan, Conrad Martin, Hall Oster and Paul Smadbeck arranged the sale between the buyer and the property’s longtime owner, GPS Realty Corp.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Sonesta International Hotels, a Massachusetts-based global hospitality group, secured a $239M loan to fund its acquisition of four NYC hotels, according to a release. The Midtown hotels, formerly known as The Benjamin Hotel, Fifty Hotel & Suites, Gardens Hotel & Suites, and the Shelburne Hotel & Suites, were previously owned by Denihan Hospitality Group, which will retain a minority stake in the hotels. The acquisition and renovation loan, issued by Ramsfield Hospitality Finance and CarVal Investors, covers 918 rooms. Sonesta has invested in rapid growth during the pandemic, expanding its U.S. presence by roughly 350% since August 2020.
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Korean investment company Eugene Asset Management scored a $172.9M loan from Wells Fargo for its first foray into U.S. real estate, Commercial Observer reports. The loan funded Eugene’s $226M purchase of a 285-unit rental property called The Lyric on the Upper West Side, previously owned by Related. PincusCo, which originally reported the sale, calculated that the sale price equated to $933,333 per unit. Korean and German investors are two of the most active international buyers in NYC, capital markets experts have said.
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Triangle 613 LLC, an entity of Baruch Singer, obtained a $92M loan from Parkview Financial for a 10-story Midwood Class-A office building, according to a release. The 1498-1538 Coney Island Ave. building is partially constructed and expected to be completed next October, with Parkview’s loan issued mid-construction to pay off two of the project’s current loans and to fund outstanding development costs. The 215K SF building is reportedly 35% complete. The financing was arranged by Meridian Capital Group’s Aaron Birnbaum and Elliott Kunstlinger.
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The Union Labor Life Insurance Co. issued a $77M, 10-year, fixed-rate loan to Simone Development Cos., Commercial Observer reports. The loan will go toward financing 1250 Waters Place, a Class-A office tower in the Bronx known as Tower One. The building, which is currently 99% leased and has a tenant roster including the New York Police Department and Montefiore Medical Center, sits within the 1.4M SF Hutchinson Metro Center campus in Pelham Bay. Richard Horowitz and Justin Horowitz of Cooper-Horowitz arranged the loan.
