This Week’s N.Y. Deal Sheet

A nearly $1B Fifth Avenue sale and several midsized Midtown office leases were the highlights of the past week in New York City commercial real estate.

TOP LEASES

Investment banking advisory firm Evercore is adding 95K SF to its space at Fisher Brothers' Park Avenue Plaza office tower, the landlord announced. Evercore is expanding to the 39th through 41st floors at the property, boosting its footprint to roughly 500K SF at 55 E. 52nd St. The 45-story property is now 100% leased. Fisher Brothers was repped in-house by Marc Packman, Charles Laginestra, Clark Briffel and Josh Fisher.

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Bank of America has signed one of the largest office leases in recent New Jersey history. The Charlotte-based lending giant is consolidating offices into 550K SF at Newport Tower, a 1.1M SF building at 525 Washington Blvd. in Jersey City, owned by BGO. Cushman & Wakefield’s Robert Rudin, David DeMatteis, Mina Shehata, Dirk Hrobsky, Karl Helgessen, Jan Randall Dausend and Christina Magill represented BGO, while CBRE's Bob Alexander, Ryan Alexander and Taylor Callaghan represented Bank of America. 

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The Feil Organization has signed private security and fire safety contractor Mulligan Security to 25K SF at 7 Penn Plaza, according to a release. Mulligan Security was already a tenant at the 370 Seventh Ave. building but only occupied 9K SF. The renewal and expansion runs for 12 years. Mulligan Security will also get a new private lobby with an entrance on 30th Street. Asking rents were $65 per SF. The 18-story, 357K SF office tower saw several new leases last year, including 10-year expansions and renewals with KC Engineering and Land Surveying P.C. and accounting firm MarcumAsia. CBRE’s David Hollander and David Katz repped Mulligan Security, while Andrew Wiener, David Turino and Henry Korzec repped The Feil Organization in-house.

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SL Green has signed three office leases and one retail lease at 1185 Sixth Ave. spanning 56K SF in total, according to a release. Slatebrook LP signed a 15K SF deal for 11 years, taking part of the 23rd floor. Insurance firm Ryan Specialty LLC took 13K SF for a three-year term on another part of the 23rd floor. ICBC Standard Resources, whose parent company already occupies almost 100K SF in the building, signed for 15K SF on the 15th floor for 11 years. On the ground floor, Carnegie Diner and Naxos Greek Restaurant signed a 17-year deal for 14K SF.

Slatebrook was repped by Norman Bobrow & Co.’s Jacob Wolkenfeld, and Ryan Specialty had representation from Colliers' Ryan Barr, Howard Grufferman and Catherine Soderquist. Newmark’s Timothy Gibson, Bill Levitsky, Jason Perla and John Cilmi repped ICBC, with Newmark’s Jeffrey Roseman also representing Carnegie Diner and Naxos Greek Restaurant. Ripco’s Richard Skulnik, Lindsay Zegans and Ben Sabin represented SL Green in the ground-floor retail lease, while Newmark’s Brian Waterman, Scott Klau, Brent Ozarowski, David Waterman and Kevin Sullivan represented the landlord in the office deals.

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Nonprofit group West Side Campaign Against Hunger is relocating from the Upper West Side to 15K SF in Washington Heights, according to a release. The WSCAH will move from 263 W. 86th St. later this year to the ground floor of 549 W. 180th St., which is owned by Colliers, according to tenant rep Open Impact Real Estate. Asking rents weren't disclosed, but retail rents range from $60 to $90 per SF in the neighborhood, according to the release. Open Impact's Lindsay Ornstein, Stephen Powers and Jake Cinti repped WSCAH, while Colliers’ Dina Coulianidis represented the landlord in-house.

TOP SALES

Kerig, the parent company of luxury fashion houses Balenciaga, Gucci and Brioni, has purchased a 115K SF space at the base of 717 Fifth Ave. for $963M. The multilevel retail condominium at the bottom of the 26-story, 468K SF building is leased to Armani and Dolce & Gabbana, although Armani’s lease in the space is set to expire shortly, the New York Post reported. The seller is a joint venture of Jeff Sutton’s Wharton Properties and SL Green, the latter of which has an 11% stake. Lender New York Life filed a foreclosure suit against ownership after the landlords defaulted on a $300M loan on the property, The Real Deal previously reported. Sutton also owned nearby 720 and 724 Fifth Ave. until last month, when luxury fashion house Prada bought them for more than $820M. Sutton was advised by Eastdil Secured on both deals. 

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The Jack Shainman Gallery has acquired 20K SF inside the Tribeca Clock Tower Building for $18.2M, various art-focused news outlets reported. The property, located at 46 Lafayette St., will serve as home to the gallery’s exhibitions, starting when it opens in September with a look at deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. The gallery is the latest in a series of prominent tenants, which included the New York Society Library and P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center’s institute known as the Clocktower Gallery. The building was completed in 1894 and features marble columns and gilded ceilings, according to Surface magazine. Peter Braus, Cory Gahr and Brad Schwarz of Lee & Associates repped the seller, Elad Group, Crain’s New York Business reported.

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Real estate firm Ryco Capital has acquired an East Village rental property for $19.1M, Crain’s reported. The property, 135 Avenue A, has 31 units spread across five stories in three buildings, according to StreetEasy. Its ground floor is also home to longtime dive bar Lucy’s. The seller was Peter Herrick, who public records show bought the property in 1977.

TOP FINANCING DEALS

Slate Asset Management has agreed to lend $59M to Ohana Real Estate Investors to refinance the Tillary Hotel and Residences in Brooklyn. The property, a 12-story, 174-key hotel and 64-unit multifamily residence, is located between the Downtown Brooklyn and Dumbo neighborhoods at 85 Flatbush Avenue Extension. JLL Americas’ Mark Fisher and Barnett Wu represented Ohana in the deal. Ohana acquired the Tillary out of bankruptcy in 2022.

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Owner and developer Adellco scored a $21.5M condo inventory loan on unsold units at 1295 Madison Ave., a newly built condo property one block from Central Park, according to a release. Connecticut-based family office Lancewood Capital provided the debt at a "near-bank rate," according to a release from Lantern Real Estate, whose Tal Bar-or and David Strongwater arranged the loan.

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The Kaufman Organization scored a $33M refinancing deal for its eight-story office building at 111 W. 19th St., Crain’s New York Business reported. The sum came from Citigroup and was arranged by a JLL team led by Aaron Niedermayer. The property was built in 1901 and last renovated in 2015, according to PropertyShark. 

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Vaja Group nabbed a $32.2M loan for a residential project in the Bronx’s Westchester Square neighborhood, Commercial Observer reported. The loan, which came from Popular Bank, will fund a proposed 81-unit development at 2121 Glebe Ave., which would replace the 26K SF industrial building on the site and include 22K SF of air rights, according to PincusCo. Vaja Group acquired the property in July for $4.5M.

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Citibank has signed a refinancing agreement worth $52.1M with A&R Kalimian Realty for a 17-story residential building in Lenox Hill, PincusCo reported. The property, a 110-unit building at 305 E. 63rd St., previously had a loan for the same amount that also came from Citibank.  

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SMA Equities notched a $70.6M refinancing deal from JLL Real Estate Capital for a newly built Gramercy rental building, PincusCo reported. The sum replaces a $56M loan on the 108-unit, 81K SF building at 397 Third Ave. from Valley National Bank. SMA Equities bought the property in 2015 for $14M.

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Barrier Free Living, an emergency shelter provider for domestic violence survivors with disabilities, signed a $45.3M loan for a development in Alphabet City, PincusCo reported. The funding came from Merchants Bank of Indiana and NYS Homeless Housing and Assistance Corp. and will go toward the construction of a 75-unit property at 270 E. Second St., which was permitted in November.