This Week’s N.Y. Deal Sheet
Sales stayed slow this week, but leasing and financing activity in New York City picked up ahead of the start of the festive period.
TOP LEASES
GFP Real Estate has signed a collection of leases totaling 21K SF at its 20-story FiDi office tower, 40 Exchange Place, according to a release. Law firm Golden, Rothschild, Spagnola, Lundell, Boylan, Garubo & Bell P.C. took 7K SF for 10 years, tech firm Mobilo took 6K SF in a short-term lease, specialty care facility SoHo Men's Health took just over 1K SF for five years, the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners took almost 3K SF for five years, Tasty’s Deli and Café Corp. took just over 2K SF on the ground floor for 10 years and Affinity Capital Exchange took 1K SF on a short-term basis. Allen Gurevich, senior managing director of GFP Real Estate, represented the owner, GFP Real Estate, in each of the transactions, in addition to representing Mobilo and SoHo Men's Health. Gurevich had assistance from Benjamin Birmbaum and Andrew Taub representing the landlord in the deal with Tasty's Deli, which was repped by Jordan Raphan of Kassin Sabbagh Realty. Affinity had representation from Cole Chartash of Cushman & Wakefield, and GRSLBG&B was represented by Newmark's Dylan Weisman and Matthew Siegel.
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RXR has signed marketing firm the Havas Group to 21K SF at its 230 Park Ave. office property, according to a release. Asking rents in the 35-story tower, located between East 45th and East 46th streets, were approximately $85 per SF. Other tenants in the Midtown East office building include investment manager Haven Capital, medtech firm Tempus Labs, 5W Public Relations and LexisNexis, according to Commercial Observer.
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Famed Chelsea art gallery David Zwirner is on the move, Commercial Observer reports. The David Zwirner Gallery has signed a 10-year lease for three floors at a recently expanded and renovated warehouse property owned by Elijah Equities, located close to the High Line at 520 West 20th St. The gallery will occupy the entire second and third floors, in addition to part of the ground floor, taking up a total of 36K SF. Asking rents in the direct deal were $145 per SF. Zwirner has another gallery just one block south, at 525 West 19th St., but this new property will serve as headquarters and gallery space and will be designed by Selldorf Architects, which recently completed a gallery across the road at 537 West 20th St.
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Private equity firm Alpine Investors has signed a five-year lease for 22K SF at RAL Development Services’ 124 East 14th St., Commercial Observer reports. Asking rents at the property, which RAL developed along with JRE Partners, are $125 per SF. Alpine Investors was repped by Colliers’ Reid Longley and Aidan Campbell and plans to move from its digs at 920 Broadway to the 14th floor of the 21-story Union Square property in the middle or end of 2023. JLL’s Mitchell Konsker, Benjamin Bass, Dan Turkewitz, Kristen Morgan and Carlee Palmer represented RAL Development in the deal.
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Brooklyn Brewery will move from Willliamsburg to a 41K SF home in Greenpoint, according to a release. The brewery started out in Williamsburg in 1988 when the neighborhood was “considered pretty sketchy,” CEO Eric Ottaway said in a statement provided to Bisnow. The brewery’s new location, 1 Wythe Ave., had asking rents of $75 per SF for the 30-year lease, which came with renewal options. The move from 79 North 11th St. will allow Brooklyn Brewery to expand by 11K SF and bring on at least 40 new employees, according to the release. The new Brooklyn Brewery’s planned opening date is summer 2024, with developers expecting to break ground later this year.
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The Feil Organization’s 261 Fifth Ave., a 25-story landmark office property built in 1928, has signed a lease expansion and renewal, Crain’s New York Business reported. Maytex Mills, a home furnishing manufacturer, has added 5K SF to its footprint, bringing its total space in the building to 25K SF. Evan Margolin of JLL and Zev Holzman of Savills represented Maytex Mills, while the Feil Organization had in-house representation from David Turino.
TOP FINANCING
Deutsche Bank has agreed to provide $215M in acquisition financing to Empire Capital, Hakimian Capital, CH Capital Group, Creed Equities and Nassimi Realty for a 40-story Midtown office tower at 1330 Sixth Ave., Commercial Observer reports. The Empire Capital-led group is buying the property for $320M from a joint venture by Blackstone and RXR in a deal that closed Thursday, four months after going under contract. Elliott Kunstlinger of Meridian Capital Group arranged the financing along with Drew Anderman and an Eastdil Secured team. The building is 90% leased, retaining tenants including Knoll, CKR Law and Silvercrest Asset Management Group despite the exodus of office tenants from Midtown locations in recent months. However, the building has decreased in value from the $498M Harry Macklowe spent on its 2006 acquisition; Macklowe was forced to auction the property in 2009 to Otera Capital in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.
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Thor Equities Group scored $50.1M from Ramsfield Hospitality Finance to refinance its boutique 114-key ModernHaus SoHo hotel, Commercial Observer reports. The 27 Grand St. hotel was previously the James Hotel and closed during 2020, reopening its doors in May 2021 with updated amenities. The hotel is Thor’s first hospitality brand; it acquired the hotel in 2017 for $66.3M from PGIM Real Estate. PGIM took a haircut on the property value when it sold to Thor, as it purchased the hotel in 2013 for $83.4M from Brack Capital Real Estate. Brack developed the property in 2010.
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Tribeca Investment Group, Meadow Partners and PGIM Real Estate have nabbed a $150M loan for a 19-story, 710K SF Midtown South office tower, Commercial Observer reported. Newmark’s Dustin Stolly, Jordan Roeschlaub, Christopher Kramer, Nick Scribani, Ben Kroll and Holden Witkoff arranged the financing, which came from Deutsche Pfandbriefbank. Developers plan to create a new lobby and a penthouse office at the building — 295 Fifth Ave., which was known as the Textile Building for most of the 20th century and is already undergoing a $400M modernization — using this injection of capital.
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Naftali Group and Access Industries notched a total of $385M in senior and mezzanine loans this week for a three-building, 561-unit project at 470 Kent Ave., The Real Deal reported. Bank OZK will provide a $310M senior loan, while a further $75M in mezzanine lending will come from Barings, the investment arm of MassMutual. Naftali went under contract to buy the former lumber yard from Abraham Rosenberg in 2019 for $180M and closed on the first portion of the site in 2020 for $100M. The development’s first phase was approved for the 421-a tax abatement and Naftali said it expects Phase 2 — closing on the rest of the assemblage — to take place in January 2023. The developer plans to turn two of the buildings in the package into rental developments and the third into condos. The deal was arranged by a Walker & Dunlop team led by Aaron Appel and Keith Kurland.
TOP SALES
A lender and developer have reached an agreement on a three-building luxury condo development in Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill neighborhood at 91-95 Pacific St. and 350 Hicks St., Crain’s New York Business reported. Madison Realty Capital started UCC foreclosure sale proceedings for equity interests against developer Fortis Property Group for $17.7M in September. But changes may have taken place since proceedings began, per Crain’s: Madison Realty has reportedly agreed to buy 91-95 Pacific St. and 350 Hicks St. from Fortis for $145M.
CORRECTION, NOV. 29, 10:30 A.M.: Maytex Mills renewed and expanded its lease at 261 Fifth Ave. A previous version of this article misstated the nature of the deal. This article has been updated.
