This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet
There’s no snow in New York City yet this winter, but this week saw a flurry of lease signings despite a slowdown in financing deals and sales.
TOP LEASES
Sportswear brand Adidas has renewed its 31K SF lease at 610 Broadway. Funds managed by LaSalle Investment Management own the Class-A office property and originally began negotiating a renewal with Adidas in 2019, in talks that were drawn out over Covid-19 and economic headwinds in 2022. Adidas, the retail anchor at the property, had in-house representation for the deal, while JLL represented its independent subsidiary, LaSalle. The 10-year lease is one of the largest retail transactions in SoHo this year, keeping Adidas in its 18-year-old, three-level store on the northeast corner of Houston Street. SoHo saw a 10% decline in retail availability during Q3 this year, as high-end and luxury retailers like Cartier and luggage store Tumi moved into the neighborhood, according to JLL.
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Landlord Greyco has leased 64K SF at 48-18 Northern Blvd. in Long Island City to Asian specialty grocer H Mart for a 15-year term, according to a release. The space will be replaced by a former Stop & Shop as the project's grocery anchor. Michelle Abramov and Greg Batista of Ripco represented H Mart in the deal, while their colleague, Jeremy Isaacs, represented the landlord.
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The Durst Organization has signed five tenants to a total of 55K SF in its 825 Third Ave. office building, it announced Tuesday. Toyota Tsusho America took 20K SF on the 10th floor, with representation from CBRE’s Paul Myers and Jamie Denison. The National Bank of Egypt, with representation from Newmark’s Fred Smith and Thomas Burrus, took almost the full 34th floor, totaling just over 12K SF. Environmental law firm Beveridge & Diamond took 11K SF, signing for the entire 16th floor in a relocation from 477 Madison Ave., with representation from Savills’ Zev Holzman and Gary Stein. Gotham Asset Management took 5K SF on the 17th floor, with representation from First New York Realty’s Eric Kahn, and fintech advisory firm Liminal Strategies took the same amount of space, taking up the remainder of the 17th floor with representation from Savills’ Brandon Cooperstock. The Durst Organization was represented in-house by Tom Bow, Ashlea Aaron, Lauren Ferrentino and Bailey Caliban. Asking rents are between $78 and $98 per SF in the 530K SF Midtown East building, which Durst has spent $150M renovating since 2019.
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Rudin Management Co. has persuaded financial advisory firm Anchin, Block & Anchin to relocate its offices to 3 Times Square. Anchin signed for 46K SF, moving from its 1375 Broadway office in favor of the recently renovated 3 Times Square for a 10-year term. The property has a touchless entry system, a 16th-floor amenity space, a new lobby, a dining area, a coffee bar, and conference and event space following upgrade work that began in 2020. Touro College signed for 243K SF in the property built in 2001, known as the Thomson Reuters building, in January this year.
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UK-based Grimshaw Architects has signed a 19K SF lease at The Moinian Group’s 60 Madison Ave. office tower, Commercial Observer reports. The move brings the firm, located at 2 Gansevoort St. in the Meatpacking District, farther north in Manhattan into a 195K SF building shared with insurance company MassMutual, mental health startup Spring Health and magazine publisher Atlantic Media. While most of Grimshaw’s projects are in the firm’s home country, it has spearheaded several NYC projects including affordable housing complex Via Verde, the Fulton Center in Lower Manhattan, and Rogers Hall at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering in Downtown Brooklyn. It’s unclear whether Grimshaw will close its Meatpacking office.
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The former TGI Fridays near Times Square has been replaced with Chelsea Wine Storage, a company that rents space to restaurants to store bottles, Commercial Observer reported. Delshah Capital’s 761 Seventh Ave. signed the tenant to a 10K SF deal for 12 years, with asking rents of $90 per SF, per CO. Avison Young’s Josh Goldman repped the tenant, while Newmark’s Drew Weiss repped Delshah in the deal.
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Two tenants signed for a total of 71K SF at Sunset Yards in Brooklyn, Commercial Observer reported. Brooklyn Prospect Charter School took 51K SF at the 341 39th St. building on the Brooklyn waterfront, while coworking space New York Studio Factory took 20K SF. The 192K SF property built in 1926 recently underwent a $22.4M renovation, making commercial use possible. David Berke, Ryan Gessin and Alex Rosenblum of Newmark repped the landlord, New Gables Capital, while the firm’s Ross Kaplan represented Brooklyn Prospect.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
The Torkian Group has snagged a $145M construction loan for a planned 32-story, 128-unit multifamily property in Manhattan, Commercial Observer reported. Valley National Bank provided the loan for the tower, which will be in the Yorkville neighborhood at 250 East 83rd St. and where below-grade construction has already started with a fall 2024 completion date. The Torkian Group has a longstanding relationship with Israel’s Bank Leumi, which Valley National Bank acquired earlier this year, Chris Coiley, Valley National’s head of commercial real estate, told CO. The tower will replace a previous low-rise corner property that was first built in 1910 and had 23 units, Patch previously reported.
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Bank OZK has agreed to loan MMR Development $170M in senior debt for its planned 28-story Billionaire’s Row property at 26 East 57th St., Commercial Observer reports. The developer, led by Rotem Rosen and billionaire Anand Mahindra, in partnership with fellow billionaire Zahi Hagag, bought the property in 2019 for $103M, demolishing the brownstone formerly on the site. The deal, which does not have additional mezzanine financing, was brokered by Fried Frank for the borrower and King & Spalding for the lender.
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Soundview Real Estate Partners and Chartwell Hospitality has nabbed a $94M loan from MSD Partners, Commercial Observer reported. The floating-rate, interest-only loan will finance two hotels — a Marriott and a Residence Inn — close to John F. Kennedy International Airport in Jamaica, Queens. The 182-room Residence Inn received its temporary certificate of occupancy and recently opened for business, while the 360-key Marriott is more than 90% complete and plans to obtain a temporary certificate of occupancy in Q2 2023. Adam Hakim, James Murad and David Baker of Meridian Capital Group arranged the financing for the properties, which are located at 144-02 135th Ave.
TOP SALES
A multifamily property located at 108-110 Ninth Ave. in Manhattan has sold for $20.8M, Crain’s New York Business reported. The property is the latest residential acquisition for Witnick Real Estate Partners, a firm co-founded by Isaac Abraham and Rami Ben-Yehuda in 2014 with an initial focus on properties in Brooklyn, Crain’s previously reported. The Chelsea building was sold by an LLC managed by Alistair Economakis, according to property records.
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Slate Property Group bought an apartment building at 123 East 54th St. for $37.7M from an affiliate of Abington Properties, the investment firm controlled by Mark Kalimian, The Real Deal reports. The 66-unit, 45-year-old Midtown East building was last sold in 1994.
