This Week’s N.Y. Deal Sheet
This week saw a couple of large lease renewals for New York City's office landlords, as well as some construction financing shaking loose for long-awaited deals and two office property sales.
TOP LEASES
VTS is moving its headquarters to 34K SF of subleased space at 3 Bryant Park, according to a release. The proptech company will relocate and expand from its space at 141 West 41st St. in the final quarter of this year to occupy a full floor of Salesforce's space in the Bryant Park tower. VTS is working on designs to give it more space, having doubled its number of employees from its pre-pandemic levels. Savills’ Jim Wenk repped VTS alongside JLL’s Sam Seiler and Transwestern’s Patrick Heeg. CBRE’s Sacha Zarba, James Ackerson and Alice Fair repped Salesforce. A joint venture of Ivanhoé Cambridge and Callahan Capital Properties owns the 1.2M SF tower at 1095 Sixth Ave. after paying Blackstone $2.2B to acquire it in 2015.
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Two tenants have renewed a total of 108K SF at Jack Resnick & Sons’ One Seaport Plaza, according to a release. The Legal Aid Society signed for 72K SF for the third and sixth floors, renewing the space that has served as its home for the past two decades for another five years. The Center for Reproductive Rights also renewed its 36K SF for 15 years. The property, built in 1984 and located at 199 Water St., has amenities including an in-building parking garage and tenant-dedicated bike and locker rooms. Craig Reicher and Christopher Mansfield of CBRE represented Legal Aid. Savills’ Daniel Horowitz, Jeffrey Peck, Ira Schuman and Stephan Steiner represented the Center for Reproductive Rights, which has already been at One Seaport for 10 years. Jack Resnick & Sons had in-house representation for both deals.
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Global Holdings Management Group has signed two tenants to its 875 Third Ave. office tower for a total of 42K SF, according to a release. The New York Compensation Insurance Rating Board signed a 20-year lease for 30K SF with representation from a Savills’ team featuring Jeffrey Peck, Daniel Horowitz, Roi Shleifer and Jacob Stern. The nonprofit association of carriers representing New York state’s workers' compensation insurance will relocate from 733 Third Ave. Alternative investment manager Aetos also signed a renewal and expansion, growing from 4K SF to 12K SF at the property. Horowitz also represented Aetos. Asking rents ranged from $65 to $75 per SF in the Class-A tower, which is now 98% occupied. A JLL team including Paul Glickman, Diana Biasotti, Kristen Morgan and Harrison Potter represented Global Holdings in the transactions.
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Lockton Re has signed a 19K SF lease at The Feil Organization’s 261 Fifth Ave., according to a release. The lease gives Lockton Re 10 years on the 10th floor of the 25-story, 450K SF NoMad property, where it will be relocating from its headquarters at 48 West 25th St. The deal follows The Feil Organization’s recent $20M investment in upgrading the building. Andrew Wiener, Tim Parlante and David Turino represented Feil in-house, while JLL’s Don Preate represented Lockton Re.
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Sports and entertainment advisory, development and investment company Oak View Group has signed for 18K SF at Fisher Brothers’ 299 Park Ave., according to a release. The 10-year lease gives OVG part of the 20th floor of the recently renovated Midtown property, where OVG is due to move in later this year. Fisher Brothers recently put 299 Park Ave. through a $20M capital improvement program. OVG was represented by CBRE’s Sacha Zarba, Jeffrey Fischer and Joseph D’Apice, while Fisher Brothers had in-house representation from Marc Packman, Charles Laginestra, Clark Briffel and Josh Fisher, as well as help from Newmark’s David Falk, Peter Shimkin, Eric Cagner and Andrew Sachs.
TOP SALES
Friedland Properties has acquired 8 West 14th St., a 1946-built, six-story office building in Union Square, from Philips International for $31.1M, Crain’s New York Business reported. The building sits one block away from the Union Square subway station and spans 110K SF in total, according to CommercialEdge. The property last traded in 2015, when public records show it fetched $7.8M. The seller was represented by James Nelson, Vincent Carrega, Neil Helman, Jon Epstein, Charles Kingsley, Todd Korren and Carter Lovejoy of Avison Young.
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The Calhoun School has sold its 160 West 74th St. property for $14M to Bayrock Capital, according to a release. The school building has a basement in addition to its five stories and features a mix of classrooms, ancillary spaces, a conference room, a fifth-floor terrace, gymnasium, theater and administrative offices. The sale took place following a facelift for the property, resulting in a new facade, new windows and upgrades to mechanicals within the building. Craig Waggner, John Ciraulo, Andrew Berry, Charlie Gravina, Mike Kavanagh and Jack Stephen of Cushman & Wakefield repped the seller in the deal.
TOP FINANCING
Atlas Hospitality and Flintlock Construction landed a $120M construction loan for their 32-story hotel project at 711 Seventh Ave., Commercial Observer reported. The sum from lender Beach Point Capital will fund the construction process through its slated completion in Q3 2025 following the May demolition of the former retail space on the site. Atlas signed a 99-year ground lease in November for $58.9M, and will build the first ground-up New York City hotel under IHG Hotel & Resorts’ Voco brand on the Times Square site. The project is expected to deliver 401 hotel rooms across its 140K SF property, following a two-year legal battle over the planned hotel, The Real Deal reported.
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MAG Partners scored a $196M refinancing package for its luxury rental property Ruby, located at 243 West 28th St., Commercial Observer reported. The loan, from Elliott Investment Management, replaces a $173M, 2020 construction loan from Madison Realty Capital. Ruby was the first project from MAG Partners after its July 2020 founding and is now 40% leased four months after opening. Approximately a third of the 480 units are reserved as affordable housing in the two-building property, which also has 8K SF of ground-floor retail and amenities including a private lobby garden, fitness room and rooftop pool.
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RJ Capital Holdings nabbed a $78M loan for a planned Rego Park residential tower, Commercial Observer reported. The development, located at 98-81 Queens Blvd. and named Trylon Tower, will reach 16 stories upon completion. RJ Capital Holdings completed the city’s required land review process to rezone the property for a high-rise multifamily property, completed demolition of the existing commercial building on the site and has laid foundations for Trylon Tower, qualifying the developer’s project for the now-expired 421-a tax abatement. BHI and Valley National Bank were the lead lenders, while Be Aviv provided mezzanine debt.
