This Week’s N.Y. Deal Sheet
In the afterglow of a busy third quarter of office leasing, New York City deal flow slowed to kick off October.
TOP LEASES
Alexander Wolf & Son Construction has signed a lease for 9K SF on the fourth floor of 747 Third Ave., the 39-story, Class-A property owned by the William Kaufman Organization. The construction firm signed a 15-year lease at the property built in 1972 with representation from JLL’s Sam Seiler and Zachary Azus, according to a release, while the landlord was represented by Sage Realty's Michael Lenchner and Jack Brennan.
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GFP Real Estate signed tenants to a total of 12K SF in direct leases at its 515 Madison Ave. office building, according to a release. Real estate investor Highwater Capital Group signed a one-year extension for the 4K SF it occupies on the 13th floor, while private equity firm MTN Capital Partners signed a two-year lease for 4K SF on the 37th floor and Dr. Henrik Zakari signed a five-year lease for 1K SF on the 38th floor. Custom jeweler Carvin French Jewelers signed a one-year extension for its fifth-floor, 3K SF space. GFP’s Martin McGrath repped both the landlord and the tenants in each of the deals.
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E-commerce marketing technology startup Rokt has signed an expansion at Tishman Speyer’s 175 Varick St. for almost double its original space. Rokt tacked on 34K SF, bringing the company’s total space in the building to 68K SF, Commercial Observer reports. The company first signed a lease in the 10-story building in 2019, and it is reportedly getting ready to go public.
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Quality control firm Applause has signed a 17K SF lease at Rudin Management Co.’s 355 Lexington Ave., Commercial Observer reported. This will be Applause’s first New York City office when it moves into its seventh-floor space at the 270K SF office building in October next year. Savills’ Christopher Foerch repped Applause, whose clients include Ford, Google, Western Union and Dow Jones, while Robert Steinman repped the landlord in-house.
TOP SALES
Slate Property Group snatched up a former Salvation Army property in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Fort Greene for $42.6M, Crain’s New York Business reports. The Salvation Army has owned the 57K SF, 13-story building located at 62 Hanson Place since 1969, but marketed the property last year as a development site along with 64K SF of air rights. Slate managed to secure a $126M collateral mortgage to fund the deal and refinance several other purchases in NYC.
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Waldron Street Owner, a firm owned by nursing home investor Avi Lustig, has purchased two buildings in the Queens neighborhood of Forest Hills for $49.5M, Commercial Observer reports. Midway Co., Bayberry Capital Group and Hi-Tech Pharmacal sold the Castle Senior Living facility at 108-15 Horace Harding Expressway and 108-25 Horace Harding Expressway in a deal that reportedly closed Sept. 13. Lustig’s plans for the buildings remain unclear, and he has not yet filed any permits.
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Investment firm Watermark Capital and its REIT Watermark Lodging Trust are selling their leasehold interest in the Courtyard by Marriott hotel at 307 West 37th St., PincusCo reported. The interest was sold for $73.7M to Barings, the investment arm of MassMutual, The Real Deal reported. Watermark took a loss on the deal after purchasing the leasehold on the 103K SF, 224-key property for $95M in 2014.
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Global investment firm Angelo Gordon bought 2250 Broadway, a retail condo at West 81st Street, for $27M from the Zucker Organization, Crain’s New York Business reported. Zucker purchased the site, which previously housed the RKO 81st Street theater, in 1999 from Kuwaiti sovereign wealth fund Wafra.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Madison Realty Capital and Newbond Holdings have acquired the nonperforming debt from the senior loan on the PUBLIC Hotel at 215 Chrystie St., Commercial Observer reports. Lenders Deutsche Bank and Aareal Banks sold the $177.3M debt — reaching $190M when fully accrued — on Ian Schrager and Witkoff’s 28-story property to Madison and Newbond at face value. Deutsche Bank and Aareal were advised by Eastdil Secured in the note sale, which closed late last month. Schrager and Witkoff opened the 255K SF property in 2017, with 367 guest rooms in the property’s boutique hotel in addition to 11 luxury residential condos at the top of the building. Deutsche has been marketing the debt since July this year following a maturity default, The Real Deal previously reported.
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Related Cos. and Oxford Properties Group scored a $348.8M rehab construction loan from Wells Fargo for 50 Hudson Yards, The Real Deal reports. The transaction closed last month, with the project’s total price tag reaching $4B. The building, one of the most expensive in the city's history, has been leased to companies like Meta, BlackRock and Truist Financial. The loan is related to the $1.5B construction financing package Related and Oxford secured for the building in 2017. Mitsui Fudosan of America later took a 90% equity stake in the project.
