This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet
In between aftershocks from the banking fallout that began just 11 days ago, leasing activity in New York took a hit as companies held their breath waiting for the next tremor, but sales in the outer boroughs saw an uptick.
TOP SALES
The family office of vacuum cleaner tycoon James Dyson paid $60M to acquire 155 Mercer St. from Thor Equities, which paid $27.3M for the property in 2013, PincusCo reported. The three-story SoHo building is vacant following Dolce & Gabbana's exit of its 16K SF lease at some point since signing in 2015. The property was first built in 1854 as a hall for volunteer firefighters at the New York City Fire Department and was used by the FDNY until the 1970s, according to architecture firm PKSB. Thor sold most of the building to ASB Real Estate in 2016 for $93M, but retained a minority stake and sold the property to Dyson after completing restoration work on the property. Dyson took a $19M mortgage from M&T Bank for the initial acquisition, followed by a debt restructuring with $41M from PNC Bank affiliate Midland Loan Services. Doug Middleton, Dan Kaplan and Justin Arzi of CBRE arranged the sale to Dyson.
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Ever River Realty has acquired four industrial properties in Flushing, Queens, for $51M, Commercial Observer reported. The properties, sold by Robert Mannheimer, total over 66K SF and are located at 34-65 Collins Place, 133-16 35th Ave., 134-07 Northern Blvd. and 132-56 34th Ave. Ever River Realty reportedly plans to retain the properties as an investment with redevelopment potential, eyeing the New York City Council-approved Special Flushing Waterfront District, where a rezoning could add just over 1,700 housing units, 687K SF of combined office, retail and community space and an 879-key hotel. Ripco Real Estate’s Stephen Preuss and Kevin Louie represented Mannheimer in the deal, and Preuss arranged a $30.5M acquisition loan from Deutsche Bank along with Ripco colleague Steven Sperandio.
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Cayuga Capital Management has sold 1 Nassau Ave. to EPR Properties for $43M, The Real Deal reported. Cayuga acquired the property for approximately $3M in 2017, seeing the 1910s-built warehouse as underutilized and leasing the space to gym chain Vital for $110 per SF the following year for a 15-year term. The property will feature among EPR’s national portfolio of fitness-based properties, which are located in Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois and California.
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Charter school Success Academy is fleshing out its presence in Jamaica, Queens, Crain’s New York Business reported. Success purchased 11 adjacent lots on Hillside Avenue and 153rd Street for $30M from Carol Joy Family Properties, with plans to build a high school in place of the former car dealerships. Carol Joy Family Properties originally purchased the sites for $11.5M in 2018 and agreed to sell to Meyer Chetrit and Gadi Ben-Hamo for $30.5M a year later, in a deal that was waylaid by a dispute over mortgage agreements. Success’ expansion into Jamaica follows the charter school’s recent pattern of expanding beyond Manhattan, with locations in the same borough in Rockaway, Ozone Park, Rosedale and Springfield Gardens, as well as its 2021 expansion into the South Bronx in 2021.
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RFR Holding has acquire a stake in the former Barney's New York store on the Upper West Side after its previous owner handed the keys back, Commercial Observer reported. Alternative investment manager Waterfall Asset Management took the property, 2139-2159 Broadway, back from the Vanbarton Group via a deed in lieu of foreclosure, with RFR Holding reportedly stepping in for a $37M price tag. Vanbarton paid $103.5M for the building, known as The Astor Retail, in 2016 and took on a $67.5M loan from Mesa West Capital. RFR Holding and Waterfall intend to modernize the retail property and retain new tenants at the storefront space previously occupied by Barney’s and Lululemon, with Retail By Mona as the leasing agent.
TOP LEASES
335 Madison Ave., now operating under the new moniker 22 Vanderbilt, has signed public relations firm Joele Frank to 78K SF for a 16-year term, the New York Post first reported. The PR company is set to swap its 50K SF space at 622 Third Ave. for Milstein Properties’ Midtown tower at the end of this year in a deal brokered by Paul Amrich, Neil King, Sacha Zarba, Jeff Fischer and Meghan Allen of CBRE on behalf of the landlord and Andrew Sachs and Ben Shapiro of Newmark on behalf of the tenant. Milstein Properties acquired the property in the 1980s when it was still the Biltmore Hotel and turned it into Bank of America’s NYC headquarters. Facebook’s decision to vacate the property after signing a 40K SF lease in 2018 came before the landlord embarked on a repositioning of the property that reportedly cost as much as $250M. The 27-story, 1.9M SF property is now 68% leased following the Joele Frank deal, but still has 300K SF of vacancies in the tower and 120K SF at the base.
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Cumberland Realty has signed film studio and event space provider Shell's Loft to 10K SF at 11-15 Adelphi St., close to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Commercial Observer reported. Shell’s first location, at 120 Hamilton Ave. in Red Hook, has served as a space for networks and streaming services including Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO and Netflix, and this space will be used for both events and as a photography and film studio. The three-story boutique office space had asking rents of $38 per SF, with Ben Waller and Anthony D’lorio of ABS Partners Real Estate brokering the deal for both tenant and landlord.
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Judlau Contracting, which is working on a five-borough renovation project for the Metropolitan Transit Authority, has new digs in Jackson Heights at RockFarmer Properties’ 82-11 37th Ave., Commercial Observer reported. The contractor’s main offices are also in Queens, located 4 miles away at 26-15 Ulmer St. RockFarmer recently completed a $4M upgrade to the nine-story building, where asking rents are in the $50s. Judlau plans to use the fourth and eighth floors of the property, originally built in 1998 and recently renamed The Heritage Building, while it works on the 7 subway line.
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The Feil Organization has signed cybersecurity firm Human Security to 14K SF at its 111 West 33rd St. property, Commercial Observer reported. The lease is a slight downsizing for Human Security, which plans to leave its Union Square home during the summer for seven years on the 11th floor of the Feil Organization’s recently upgraded 26-story office tower. Asking rents were $75 per SF, with Peter Trivelas and Gary Ceder of Cushman & Wakefield handling the deal for the tenant. Robert Fisher and Andrew Wiener brokered the deal in-house for the landlord.
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RXR has signed two new tenants totaling 11K SF at 75 Rockefeller Plaza, Commercial Observer reported. IT management firm Hinduja Global Services signed for a little under 7K SF on the 26th floor, with representation from UP Real Estate Advisors’ Pavan Uttam and Manu Pohani, while the National Retail Federation took on 4K SF on the 29th floor with representation from JLL’s Ellen Herman and Elizabeth Cooper. Cushman & Wakefield’s Anthony LoPresti, Connor Daugstrup, Heather Thomas and Bianca DiMauro repped the landlord, who also had in-house representation from Dan Birney, Alexandra Budd and Ethan Silverstein. Both leases run for five years.
TOP FINANCING
Affinius Capital — which rebranded from Square Mile Capital last week — and Clarion Partners have agree to lend $248M on BentallGreenOak and Slate Property Group’s 51-story Biltmore tower in Midtown West, The Real Deal reported. The property, located at 271 West 47th St., has 47K SF of commercial space in addition to 464 residential units and was purchased by BGO from the Jack Parker Corp. in 2018 for $280M. Jordan Roeschlaub, Dustin Stolly, Nick Scribani and Chris Kramer of Newmark brokered the debt and also handled BentallGreenOak’s financing for its initial acquisition.
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Developer Werwaiss Properties scored a $131M floating rate construction loan from PCCP and Corebridge Financial, formerly called AIG, for a Long Island City multifamily development, Commercial Observer reported. The developer started construction at 23-10 42nd Road last summer and is due to finish up in summer of 2025, delivering 240 units across 35 stories to the neighborhood. Walker & Dunlop’s Michael Diaz, Jonathan Schwartz, Aaron Appel, Adam Schwartz and Keith Kurland repped Werwaiss in the deal.
