This Week’s N.Y. Deal Sheet
With the unofficial last week of summer, a handful of significant deals trickled into New York City's commercial real estate market, including the biggest downtown office lease of the year and a pair of $80M apartment trades.
TOP LEASES
GFP Real Estate signed seven new leases at 230 Fifth Ave. totaling almost 26K SF, according to a release. The largest lease went to 1888 Mills, a manufacturer of home and commercial textiles for retail, hospitality and healthcare markets, which signed for 7K SF on the seventh floor in a deal brokered by Savills’ Gregory Anthony and Scott Ansel. Other tenants coming to the building are a range of garment and textile industry businesses, including Worth Imports, Surya Carpet Inc., Taram Textiles LLC, Dynamic Rugs and All For You Products Corp. The 1914-built, 465K SF property is branded as 230 Fifth Avenue New York MarketCenter, and has more than 140 showrooms in its 20 stories. It was acquired by the Gural family in 1958. GFP principal Jane Gural-Senders is the lead asset manager on the building and represented the family in the deals, alongside Harvey Richer.
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Law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US LLP has signed a 180K SF lease at Silverstein Properties’ 3 World Trade Center for 15 years, according to a release. Freshfields is set to occupy floors 51 through 54 as of early 2024, when its current 110K SF lease at 601 Lexington Ave. expires. Other tenants at 3 World Trade include consulting firm McKinsey, stock exchange platform IEX and Uber, Bisnow reported. Jeremy Moss represented Silverstein in-house in the deal, with help from a CBRE team of Mary Ann Tighe, Ken Meyerson, Adam Foster, Evan Haskell, Steve Eynon, Caroline Merck and Rob Hill. Savills’ David Goldstein and Jarod Stern represented the tenant.
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Marx Realty signed four new leases within its Bowery portfolio, where asking rents were between $60 and $65 per SF, according to a release. Portlus Inc., a division of UK-based fashion brand Threads Styling, signed for 2K SF at 135 Bowery, a 23K SF, eight-story property that was built in 2016 and acquired by Marx Realty two years later. Nightclub operator JO Entertainment also signed for 2K SF on the eighth floor of 135 Bowery.
Marx signed two leases at 161 Bowery, with creative firm Something Special Studios taking more than 3K SF on the sixth floor and media investment and intelligence company Magna Digital Inc. taking the same amount on the seventh floor. Square Foot’s Tom Kelly represented Portlus, Savitt Partners’ Harrison Katzman represented JO Entertainment, Something Special Studios was represented by Redwood Property Group’s Eli Someck and Magna Digital was represented by Venture Commercial NYC’s Jason Majlessi. The four deals were sealed by a Cushman & Wakefield landlord rep team of Remy Liebersohn and Bianca DiMauro.
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Arts nonprofit The Kitchen signed a 6K SF lease at 55 Bethune St., an affordable housing complex owned by nonprofit Westbeth Artists Housing. The Kitchen plans to move into the space this fall from its Chelsea address, 512 West 19th St., and will join Westbeth’s other tenants such as The Martha Graham Dance Co. and The New School for Drama. The landmarked building is the only affordable housing complex for artists in New York City, providing 383 affordable apartments since the institution first opened over 50 years ago.
TOP SALES
Stonehenge has acquired its 26th New York City building, a six-story, 70K SF multifamily property at 780 Greenwich St. comprising 88 units, Crain’s New York Business reports. The deal reportedly brings Stonehenge’s portfolio to 3,200 residential units in the city. The Heller Organization parted ways with the 1950-built 780 Greenwich for $80.4M, with Stonehenge planning to upgrade the apartments and use its own property management services, according to Crain’s.
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Gaia Real Estate also made an $80M purchase this week: Williamsburg multifamily property 55 Hope St., a converted pencil factory with 117 units, The Real Deal reports. Seller Hope Street Capital previously bought the property for $17M in 2010, borrowing $38M for the building’s conversion. The off-market transaction is Gaia betting that New York’s rental market — and Williamsburg as a location — will stay strong, according to The Real Deal.
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Sunlight Development has dropped $25M on an Astoria site where it plans to develop condominiums, Commercial Observer reports. Pioneer Property Group and Vernon-Sutton Inc. sold the site at 30-55 Vernon Blvd., today a two-story warehouse, after acquiring it in 2013 for $8.2M. RIPCO Real Estate’s Andreas Efthymiou brokered the deal for the seller with Stephen Preuss, Kevin Schmitz and Kevin Louie, according to CO.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Two Trees scored a total of $79.8M in loans from M&T Bank for its Domino Sugar Refinery project, Commercial Observer reports. The lender provided $43.8M in the form of a project loan and $36M as a building loan for the development, which Two Trees purchased from The Community Preservation Corp. for $185M in 2012. Two Trees originally planned to redevelop the landmark building into a 2,200-unit apartment building, but has increased the original 11-acre site’s square footage by 10% and added 600K SF of commercial space. The renovation’s total price tag came to $250M, and the renovation is reportedly expected to be completed next year.
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Bank OZK has provided a $98.2M construction loan to Toll Brothers for 2686-2690 Broadway on the Upper West Side, Commercial Observer reported. Toll Brothers acquired the property from Branic International Realty in 2019 for $44M and filed plans last year to demolish the building and replace it with a 13-story, 84K SF mixed-use property. Branic sold the property after reaching a settlement with the city following allegations that the residential property had been used for an illegal hospitality operation, the Marrakech Hotel.
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Domain Cos. has secured a $142M loan for its 540 DeGraw St. joint venture with Vorea Group, The Real Deal reported. JLL Real Estate Capital arranged the construction loan, which came from U.S. Bank and will fund the development of a 270-unit property in Gowanus. The $230M project is expected to feature 18K SF of ground-floor commercial space when it wraps construction in 2025, and will reserve 25% of units as income-restricted, having secured the 421-a tax break before its expiration earlier this summer.
