This Week’s N.Y. Deal Sheet
Leases for a movie theater and a laser distributor were among the notable transactions in an abnormally warm February week, but New York City's lending market is still frosty.
TOP LEASES
The Durst Organization has signed LOOK Dine-in Cinemas to 25K SF at 625 West 57th St., Commercial Observer reported. The cinema replaces the Landmark at 57 West, which closed in 2020 after less than three years in operation. LOOK’s first New York City location, in the Bjarke Ingels’-designed Via 57 West building, has theaters that can seat between 20 and 172 people. Durst was represented in-house by Ashlea Aaron, Eric Engelhardt and Karen Rose, while LOOK had representation from Ripco Real Estate’s Emily Simmonds and Beth Rosen.
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AmTrust RE has a new tenant at 250 Broadway. Law firm Pollack, Pollack, Isaac & DeCicco LLP has signed a 16K SF lease at the 648K SF property across the street from City Hall Park. Other tenants include law firm Gannon, Rosenfarb & Drossman, the New York City Council, New York City Housing Authority, the New York State Assembly and New York State Senate. Pollack, Pollack, Isaac & DeCicco was repped by Newmark’s Eric Zemachson, while Cushman & Wakefield’s Anne Holker, Charles Borrok, Jonathan Fales, Frank Cento, Jonathan Fein and Michelle Mean represented the landlord.
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The New York City Department of Transportation has signed a lease with The Rabsky Group for 156K SF of office and industrial space in East Williamsburg, Commercial Observer reported. The DOT, which has occupied the 101 Varick Ave. site under a short-term license agreement since 2019, will pay rents starting at $4.6M for the first five years, then increasing to a maximum of $6.3M over the 20-year lease, per CO. CBRE’s Jun Park, John Reinertsen and Michael Lee repped the DOT in the deal, while Pinnacle Realty’s David Junik and Abraham Lowy repped the Rabsky Group. The landlord purchased the site for $48M in 2016.
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Medical laser distributor NYLO Aesthetics will set up shop at a Garment District office property, located at 240 West 37th St. and owned by the Sioni Group, Commercial Observer reported. NYLO signed a 15-year, 13K SF lease for the space and plans to move in March 1, joining tenants including skin care clinics Flash Lab Skin & Laser and Color Lab NYC at the 149K SF property. Daniel Lolai, Joel Kubie and Eric Siegel of LSL Advisors negotiated the deal on behalf of both the tenant and the landlord.
TOP SALES
Hyundai Motor Group dropped $273.5M on a Manhattan office and showroom, buying 15 Laight St. from the Vanbarton Group in an all-cash deal. The eight-story, 108K SF property was previously the site of the Tribeca Film Festival until Vanbarton acquired it for $90M in 2016. Gensler designed the boutique office redevelopment at the mouth of the Holland Tunnel. Vanbarton was asking for rents between $150 and $195 per SF, so Hyundai paid roughly $2,500 per SF to own it instead.
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Standard International acquired the Sixty Soho Hotel, at 58-62 Thompson St. in Lower Manhattan, for $106.9M, The Real Deal reported. The sale price works out to roughly $1.1M per room for the 97-key hotel, a pandemic-era record. The property will be Standard’s third boutique hotel in Manhattan, following its purchases of the Standard East Village at 25 Cooper Square and the Standard High Line at 848 Washington St. Jeff Davis of JLL brokered the deal on behalf of Michael and Jason Pomeranc’s hospitality company, Sixty Collective, which bought the property for $549K in 1998, according to city property records.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
The State Bank of Texas has agreed to loan $35M for a Times Square hotel project by hotel developer Sam Chang. The debt consolidates two mortgages that McSam Hotel Group had on the Marriott SpringHill at 223 West 46th St. and added a $20M gap mortgage, Commercial Observer reported. The loan replaces two sums from lender Silver Point Finance for the 200-key hotel designed by Gene Kaufman Architects, which the developer broke ground on in 2020. The State Bank of Texas funding comes as the construction of the hotel approaches completion. The developer also owns the Le Méridien at 292 Fifth Ave. and another hotel under construction at 150 West 48th St. The 20-story Marriott SpringHill is expected to finish construction this spring.
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Blackstone’s CMBS debt on 11 Manhattan multifamily properties has reportedly been sent to a special servicer. The total loan amount reaches $271M and covers 637 units in Chelsea, the Upper East Side and Midtown South and was current as of this month, but has been on the servicer’s watchlist since November. Blackstone continues to operate the largely market-rate properties, but its floating-rate debt on the portfolio and higher-than-anticipated expenditures have created a cash flow shortfall, which Blackstone — the world's largest real estate owner — has chosen not to keep funding.
