This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet
New York's sales market remains muted, but there is a lot of financing action with large transactions for high-profile local developers RFR and Rockrose Development Corp., as well as a few high-profile leases in Manhattan and Brooklyn last week.
TOP LEASES
Private investment manager Wellington Management signed a 71K SF lease at Columbia Property Trust’s 799 Broadway, making it the largest tenant in the new building, according to a release. The 15-year lease covers four floors in the 182K SF building, which will be Wellington’s first NYC location. JLL’s Mitchell Konsker, Benjamin Bass and Sam Seiler represented the landlord, while Steven Rotter, Randy Abend, Gabrielle Harvey, Brendan Callahan and Lauren Calandriello, also of JLL, represented the tenant.
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George Comfort & Sons has leased 62K SF at 135 West 50th St. to an unnamed "major consumer goods company," according to a release. The owner brought in architecture firm Gensler for renovations on the nearly 1M SF building, which included updates to the entrances and lobby and a 20K SF amenity center run by Industrious. The company will take its position in the building in Q4 this year. Savills’ Jeffrey Peck and Daniel Horowitz acted on behalf of the tenant, while George Comfort & Sons had in-house representation from Matt Coudert, Andrew Conrad and Alexander Bermingham.
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Vice Media has renewed its office lease in Williamsburg for another four years, according to a release. The media company has rented the entire four-story, 77K SF building at 289 Kent Ave. since 2014 from owner WEB Holdings LLC. Savills’ Erik Schmall and Allyson Bowen represented Vice in the transaction, while Alan Friedman, Garry Steinberg and Brendan Reichenbacher of Lee & Associates represented WEB Holdings. Vice had reportedly been in talks to lease a large space at Dock 72, the Brooklyn Navy Yard office building developed by Boston Properties and Rudin Management.
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Tomorrow Health signed a sublease for 15K SF at 225 Broadway, according to a release. The telehealth firm is relocating from a 2K SF Midtown South office to Lower Manhattan, where it will occupy the entire 23rd floor of Refinery29's office in the Braun Management-owned building. Peter Johnson of Avison Young represented Tomorrow Health, while Savills’ Eric Schmall, Allyson Bowen and Christina Bicks represented Vice Media, which owns Refinery29. Asking rents were in the low $50s per SF for the space, which Refinery29 left to consolidate into Vice's Brooklyn office, The Real Deal reports. The media company leases a total of 30K SF from Braun at the building.
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Tenants signed a collective 50K SF in leases at RFR Holding’s 17 State St. over the past week. Boutique investment bank ThinkEquity took 15K SF with representation from Venture Commercial’s Jason Majlessi and Arash Sadighi, expanding its existing lease by more than double. Risk and compliance advisory firm StoneTurn renewed its 13K SF lease and was represented by CBRE’s Rob Wizenberg. Clean energy nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute signed a 10K SF lease and was represented by Ellen Herman of JLL. Other tenants signing small leases in the building included a private equity firm and a FOREX trading company. Asking rents were between $65 and $75 per SF at the Financial District tower.
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New York Public Library signed a 41K SF lease with ABS Partners Real Estate for 270 Madison Ave. for 33 years, Commercial Observer reports. The library system was repped by Savills’ Ira Schuman and Stephan Steiner in the deal, which covers the 11th through 13th floors.
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Kamber Management Co. has leased 39K SF in total to a collection of tenants at 120 West 45th St, known as Tower45, according to a release. Dearie Law Firm took 14K SF on the 16th floor and was represented by Cushman & Wakefield’s Gary Ceder. Lipsky Goodkin & Co. renewed its lease for another decade, with representation from Erik Schmall and Scott Weiss of Savills. Critical Trading LLC and The McPherson Firm PC renewed 3K and 5K SF leases, respectively, with in-house representation, while Berg & Androphy renewed a 3K SF lease with representation from Venture Capital’s Arash Sadighi. The Stan Johnson Co. also leased roughly 5K SF in a five-year deal represented by Savills’ Gregory Johnson. The owner was represented by a JLL team including Paul Glickman, Diana Biasotti, Kyle Young, Kip Orban and Kate Roush.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Rockrose Development scored $240M from Wells Fargo for a planned 49-story residential tower in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood, Commercial Observer reports. Rockrose bought the site in 2019 for over $60M and plans to build 609 units and a 4K SF commercial space at the bottom. Thirty percent of the units will be affordable, and it will also include a 108-car garage, Crain’s New York Business reports.
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RFR Holding’s $235M CMBS loan at 285 Madison Ave. has been transferred to a special servicer, according to CMBS tracking firm Trepp. The original loan on the 51K SF office building, securitized in a single-asset, single-borrower security in 2017, is due to mature in November, and the borrower has requested an extension. KeyCorp Real Estate Capital Markets will service the loan, Commercial Observer reports.
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RFR snagged a $260M loan for its $290M purchase of 475 Fifth Ave., Commercial Observer reports. The senior lenders were Citigroup and JPMorgan, while PCCP provided mezzanine debt. The nearly century-old Midtown office building was expected to sell for approximately $300M when it first went up for sale in October last year, when Bloomberg reported that industry insiders were watching the sale as a litmus test for older buildings competing against new Class-A towers. James Millon, Tom Traynor and Mark Finan of CBRE negotiated the debt, and Darcy Stacom, Doug Middleton and Alana Bassen, also of CBRE, arranged the sale from former owners Nuveen Real Estate and Norges Bank Investment Management.
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A joint venture of The Moinian Group and Bushberg have secured a $105M construction loan for the 2840 Atlantic Ave. development in East New York, according to a release. The loan came from Valley Bank and Cross River Bank, with Moinian supplying additional preferred equity to finance the rest of the construction. Foundations have already been laid for the 14-story property, which will also feature luxury residential and affordable units, community space, retail units and parking space, the developers said.
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The Chetrit Group nabbed a $110M loan from Maverick Real Estate Partners for a planned 323-key, 156K SF Midtown South hotel, Commercial Observer reports. The previous lender for the 255 West 34th St. property was Arbor Commercial Mortgage, but the loan was nearing maturity and the new loan was purchased at a “slight discount,” according to CO.
TOP SALES
127 Concord St., the site for a planned 13-story development between Downtown Brooklyn and Dumbo, sold to GW Equities LLC for $12.8M, according to a release. The buyer plans to build a mixed-use building with 73 residential units and a commercial space at the bottom. An Ariel Properties team including Stephen Vorvolakos, Michael Tortorici and Sean Kelly arranged the sale.
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Midwood Investment and Development has purchased a multifamily building at 56 Seventh Ave. from BlackRock, Crain’s New York Business reports. The sale closed for $102M. The deal for the 160-unit West Village building, known as the Candela Tower, was brokered by Cushman & Wakefield's Adam Spies and Adam Donegar, The Real Deal reported.
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Landlords Debra and Albert Kalimian sold a collection of Manhattan multifamily buildings to Eagle Point Properties, Crain’s New York Business reports. The properties, at 513, 521 and 529 West 20th St., 142 Wooster St., 340 East 29th St. and 150 West 47th St., sold for a total of $130M.
