This Week’s N.Y. Deal Sheet
Neither the heat nor the Fed could stop a wave of financing deals in New York City over the past week.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Parkview Financial has agreed to loan $207M to Ground Lease REIT, a company from Montgomery Street Partners, according to a release. The loan allows the REIT to purchase the ground lease underneath the 90-year-old Hudson Hotel in Columbus Circle. An undisclosed tenant had originally entered into contract to buy the property from Cain International for $207M, but then assigned the contract to the Ground Lease REIT. The REIT completed the sale from Cain International and leased the property to an undisclosed tenant. The 24-story property, originally built in 1929, will be converted from a hotel to a rental property with 438 units.
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Innovo Property Group, Andrew Chung’s real estate investment and operating company backed by Nan Fung Group, has secured a $435M loan from Starwood Property Trust and JPMorgan Chase to refinance a Long Island City logistics and warehouse space. Innovo acquired the site at 23-30 Borden Ave., known as the Borden Complex, in 2019 for $75M with Atalaya Capital Management and Nan Fung Group. The partners demolished the FreshDirect warehouse then on the site and had already secured a $155M construction loan from Starwood to build a five-story, 842K SF distribution center, The Real Deal reported. Eastdil Secured served as the adviser on the $435M loan.
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John Catsimatidis’ Red Apple Group has secured a $153M refinancing from Bank of America and Santander Bank for his Ocean Drive development, which consists of two towers at 3514 Surf Ave. in Coney Island. The short-term loan replaces a $130M loan previously secured from the same lenders, The Real Deal reports. Catsimatidis told The Real Deal that he wants to build another three towers in the neighborhood and is willing to take his business to Florida if New York City declines to approve his plans.
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Bank OZK has agreed to loan $176M to Domain Cos., for a mixed-use development in Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood, The Real Deal reports. The loan will finance a 360-unit apartment and retail development across two buildings, at 404 and 420 Carroll St. The project’s other partners include Silverstein Properties, Vorea Group and affiliates of Cantor Fitzgerald.
TOP SALES
Kahen Properties has acquired two properties in Manhattan’s Lenox Hill neighborhood for $33.75M, according to a release. Jerry Kahen's firm bought 1026 Third Ave., a loft building with a restaurant, second-floor professional space and a duplex residential loft for $9.75M from Portfolio4 LLC, which was represented by Judson CRE’s Nick Judson. Meanwhile, JANS Investment Co. sold the adjacent two-building property, 1020-1024 Third Ave. consisting of 25 residential units and three commercial spaces, to Kahen for $24M. A JLL Capital Markets team led by Clint Olsen and Stephen Godnick also represented Kahen in the transactions.
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Investment manager Empire Capital Holdings is under contract to buy 1330 Sixth Ave. from a joint venture of Blackstone and RXR for $325M, Commercial Observer reported. RXR and Blackstone were reportedly hoping to get $350M for the 40-story office building, which comes with $285M in debt from DekaBank obtained by RXR in 2018 to retire a previous $200M loan from New York Community Bank. The office building, like many of its peers, has seen its value drop in recent years; it previously sold for $498M in 2006, and RXR paid $400M for it in 2010. Blackstone became a majority investor after buying a 50% stake in RXR’s office portfolio in 2015. Empire plans to obtain new debt for the purchase, according to CO. Formerly known as the Financial Times building, the asset is Empire’s second purchase contract within two months; the investment manager also entered into a contract to buy 345 Seventh Ave. from Clemons Management Corp. last month for $107M.
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Spring Creek SNF Realty, a firm with ties to healthcare operator Benjamin Landa, has purchased a 188-bed nursing home at 660 Louisiana Ave. in East New York, Commercial Observer reported. Spring Creek SNF Realty acquired the property for $40.4M from an entity linked to Marx Development Group. The comes with $41M of debt from Dwight Mortgage Trust, which includes a $16.2M gap mortgage, per CO. Landa also reportedly owns a 49% interest in the current tenant at 660 Louisiana Ave., the Spring Creek Rehabilitation & Nursing Care Center.
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Harbor Group International and Azure Partners have acquired a 617-unit apartment community in Elmsford in Westchester County for $306M, according to a release. HGI says it plans to implement a $9.2M capital improvement program to renovate common areas and amenity spaces in the garden-style complex, dubbed Avalon Green, in addition to modernizing some of the units. The property was built in three phases in 1995, 2012 and 2016 and features a mix of townhouses, apartment homes and stacked flats as well as two saltwater swimming pools, detached garages, a resident lounge and a clubhouse.
TOP LEASES
The Rudin Family signed two tenants at its 38-story, FiDi office building, 80 Pine St., according to a release. The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development took 22K SF across the entire 20th floor, while personal injury law firm Elefterakis, Elefterakis & Panek LLP renewed and expanded by 14K SF, bringing its total lease to 28K SF across the entire 36th floor of the building. Both leases run until 2037. The nonprofit was represented by Savills’ Marc Shapses, and Thomas Cordasco of Thomas Cordasco Co. represented Elefterakis. A JLL team of Frank Doyle, Alexander Chudnoff, John Wheeler, Kyle Young and Eliza Gordon represents Rudin at the building. 80 Pine's other tenants include New York Property Insurance Underwriting Association, AccuWeather, CureMD, January Digital and the National Urban League.
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Brookfield Properties’ 225 Liberty St., in Brookfield Place, has signed 67K SF of leases. Marketing and consulting firm Simon-Kucher & Partners took 27K SF, trading firm DRW Holdings signed for 17K SF, and an unnamed investment management firm took nearly 23K SF. Mikael Nahmias, Hayley Shoener and David McBride represented Brookfield in-house in the deals alongside JLL’s John Wheeler, Kyle Young, Eliza Gordon, Cynthia Wasserberger and Paul Glickman. JLL’s Lisa Kiell, Randy Abend and Andrew Coe represented Simon-Kucher & Partners, while Cushman & Wakefield’s Jonathan Fein, Ari Klein, Gary Greenspan and Andrew Ross represented DRW.
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Warehouse fulfillment company Highline Commerce has signed a 27K SF deal at Building 7 of Industry City’s Sunset Park campus, more than tripling its current 8K SF footprint in Chelsea, the New York Business Journal reported. Asking rents were $25 per SF, according to Commercial Observer. Highline reportedly didn't use a broker for the deal, while Industry City’s Jeff Fein handled the transaction in-house.
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Eikon Therapeutics has signed a 25K SF lease at the Alexandria Center for Life Science at 430 East 29th St., Commercial Observer reported. William Hartman, Rachel Park and James Gale of Cushman & Wakefield handled the deal for Eikon, and no brokers were reported on the landlord's side. Eikon and Alexandria also recently announced a joint intention to develop a 285K SF global headquarters close to San Francisco for Millbrae, a biotech firm.
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SL Green has leased 30K SF at 740 Third Ave., Commercial Observer reported. The Permanent Mission of the Republic of Poland to the United Nations signed an early, 10-year renewal deal for its 18K SF spread on the 30th floor, with representation from Ronald Shakerdge of Republic Realty Services. Accounting firm Grassi & Co. signed a five-year lease for 12K SF with representation from Cushman & Wakefield’s Michael Burgio. SL Green handled the transactions in-house. Asking rents for the spaces were $76 per SF and $74 per SF, respectively.
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Law firm Kaufman Borgeest & Ryan signed a 27K SF lease spanning an entire floor at Global Holdings Management's 875 Third Ave. The law firm is relocating from 120 Broadway for 15 years; it was previously a tenant at Global Holdings’ 99 Park Ave. Its new space is at a 29-story, 750K SF office tower in Midtown East with a recently renovated three-story lobby atrium. Paul Glickman, Diana Biasotti, Kristen Morgan and Harrison Potter of JLL represented Global Holdings, while the tenant was represented by Howard Properties' Howard Greenberg.
