This Week’s N.Y. Deal Sheet

Several New York City investment sales closed ahead of the long weekend, along with a few big financing deals, but leasing remains slow as summer officially begins.

TOP LEASES

The office portion of Handler Real Estate Organization’s 561 Seventh Ave. is fully leased after four tenants took 14K SF between them, according to a release. Live music production company Element Music renewed its 4K SF lease for the eighth floor on a short-term basis, while nonprofit Geopath also signed a 4K SF lease renewal for the 12th floor. Interior lighting company Blueprint Lighting is relocating from another Handler building to a 3K SF lease on 561 Seventh's 20th floor, and food logistics company SeaFrigo USA will relocate from its Elizabeth, New Jersey, office to 3K SF on the 21st floor. Handler’s Darell Handler and Kyle Galin represented the landlord in-house in all the deals, as well as representing Element Music, Geopath and SeaFrigo. Alex Bush, also of Handler, represented Blueprint Lighting.

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Shawmut Design and Construction has leased 27K SF for a new office at The Feil Organization's 488 Madison Ave., according to a release. Shawmut is taking the entire 10th floor in a 15-year deal in which it will relocate from its 3 East 54th St. office in March 2023. The 100% employee-owned, $1.5B  company has offices in Boston; Los Angeles; Miami; Providence, Rhode Island; West Palm Beach, Florida; and Las Vegas. The Feil Organization’s David Turino represented the landlord of the 23-story, 1949-designed building in-house, while CBRE’s David Hollander and Jared Freede represented the tenant. 

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Clothing retailer Aritzia has signed a 33K SF lease for a three-level store on Fifth Avenue, according to a release. The storefront at 608 Fifth Ave. was formerly leased to Topshop and has a wraparound front. Landlord Omnispective was represented by CBRE’s Andrew Goldberg and Jared Lack, while Newmark’s Ariel Schuster and Jason Wecker provided representation for the tenant.

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New York City Employees’ Retirement System has signed a 31K SF renewal at The Factory LIC, Commercial Observer reports. Several existing tenants also renewed their leases: 20th Television renewed its 8K SF lease, Bombardier renewed its fourth-floor, 8K SF lease, Broadway Stages renewed a 6K SF lease and La Maison du Chocolat expanded its existing lease by 8K SF, bringing its space to a total of 13K SF on the ground floor in the building, which had asking rents of $50 per SF. Brian Waterman, Howard Kesseler, Jordan Gosin and Alex Rosenblum of Newmark represented the landlords, a joint venture between Atlas Capital Group, Invesco Real Estate and Partners Group, in the transaction with NYC Employees’ Retirement System.  

TOP SALES

AYA Acquisitions has purchased a 77K SF, seven-building portfolio spread across several Manhattan neighborhoods for $44M, Bisnow has learned. The mostly residential buildings, known as the Kokot Portfolio, are in Chelsea, the East Village and Gramercy, and come with a $15M CMBS loan. AYA closed the acquisition with $29M in equity. There are 133 apartment units and one retail space at the addresses, which include 67 St. Marks Place, 106 East Seventh St., 217 East 22nd St., 638-640 East 14th St., 239 West 15th St. and 426 East 77th St. A JLL Capital Markets team led by Hall Oster and Teddy Galligan represented the seller, a long-term private owner.

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Nonprofit AHRC NYC has sold its Long Island City buildings, 32-03 and 31-17 39th Ave., for $28.6M, according to a release. The sites, which have almost 100K SF of residential zoning in a cleared lot and an 18K SF former warehouse, are located inside a qualified opportunity zone just outside the Queens Plaza and Court Square core areas. Denham Wolf Real Estate Services represented the seller. The buyer was 39th Ave Equity LLC. 

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Blackstone has closed a long-awaited multifamily purchase, Crain’s New York Business reported. The investment firm closed a $930M purchase on Lower Manhattan’s 8 Spruce St. from Brookfield Asset Management and Nuveen. Occupancy rates in the 899-unit Frank Gehry-designed property fell during the pandemic, but it was 95% leased by November last year, Bloomberg reported. The rental tower, the tallest residential building in the city when it opened, was developed by Forest City Ratner.

TOP FINANCING DEALS

GFP Real Estate secured a $191M, seven-year loan to facilitate construction of a new Tribeca office space at 40 Worth St. for The Legal Aid Society, according to a release. The financing was led by Wells Fargo, which was joined by other banks, including TD Bank and BankUnited. The offices, which The Legal Aid Society will begin occupying in August and move into fully next March, will eventually total 199K SF. The new loan replaces $150M provided by Capital One and TD Bank in 2015 due to mature in June 2025. The first payment from the new loan was $155.7M and was fixed at closing, while the remaining $35.3M will be paid as construction continues over the next 18 to 24 months.

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Hotel Mela Times Square's $31.8M loan has gone to special servicing, according to CMBS tracking firm Trepp. The hotel's revenues have been lower than its debt service coverage for the 12 months ending in March. The loan for the 246-key, full-service hotel, which was valued at $81M in 2017, matures in November. The borrower has requested an extension and the option to tap into reserves meant for the replacement of the building's furniture and equipment, according to Trepp. The hotel, which is owned by O&O Properties Corp., according to property records, was used as a homeless shelter during the pandemic before reopening under new management last year. 

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GAIA Real Estate snagged $24.3M in acquisition financing for its $34.7M purchase of a three-building mixed-use Lower East Side portfolio, according to a release. The buildings — 102 Norfolk St., 177 Ludlow St. and 99 Allen St. — contain 56 residential units and five retail spaces between them. Bank of America provided the loan, while the portfolio was sold by SMA Equities with representation from JLL Capital Markets’ Bob Knakal, Guthrie Garvin, Jonathan Hageman, Jack Norton and Jacob Russell. The borrower was represented by JLL’s Scott Aiese, Alex Staikos and George Kordahl.

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Columbia Property Trust scored a $270M refinancing for its 799 Broadway property, a 12-story office building close to Manhattan’s Union Square, Commercial Observer reports. Blackstone Mortgage Trust provided the debt, while Eastdil Secured negotiated the loan. The building, where construction was completed in April, features floor-to-ceiling windows and 17K SF of outdoor space. Its tenants include investment firm Wellington Management and Bain Capital Ventures.