This Week’s N.Y. Deal Sheet
The weather is warming up in New York, and so are the deals, with multiple leases larger than 100K SF signed, a number of significant loans and a pair of churches selling off real estate.
TOP LEASES
Global asset manager Tikehau Capital has signed a 23K SF lease at 9 W. 57th St., landlord the Soloviev Group announced. Tikehau will occupy space on the 45th floor of the 50-story skyscraper just south of Central Park, which recently underwent modernization and has tenants including Pointstate Capital and investor Loews Corp. Renovations include the introduction of a 20K SF amenity floor, conferencing space, a to-go coffee shop and tenant amenities including a golf simulator and cold plunge spa pool. CBRE’s Howard Fiddle, Gregg Rothkin, John Maher, Alex Leopold and Tara Rhodes repped the Soloviev Group in the deal, while Avison Young’s Roshan Shah repped Tikehau Capital.
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Bedford Stuyvesant New Beginnings Charter School has signed a 51K SF lease for a three-story property in Williamsburg. The charter school’s new home will be 217 N. 10th St., a newly constructed building in Williamsburg from developer Largo Development and designed by Morris Adjmi Architects. The school expects to run its high school program from the new location in the fall semester, relocating those programs from 82 Lewis Ave. Norman Bobrow & Co. represented the school, while CBRE’s Jason Frazier, Jesse de la Rama, Jeremy Scholder, Chris Betting and Dean Rosenzweig represented the developer.
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Fashion brand Michael Kors has renewed its 203K SF lease at 11 W. 42nd St., Tishman Speyer and Silverstein Properties’ 32-story tower in Bryant Park, Commercial Observer reported. Michael Kors has been in the 956K SF property since at least 2012 when it signed to expand its 90K SF to reach 120K SF in total. It has continued to expand since then to its current footprint.
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Fintech firm Betterment is subleasing 113K SF from weight loss app Noom, Commercial Observer reported. Noom has been at Brookfield Properties’ Five Manhattan West since 2020 when it subleased 113K SF from advertising firm R/GA. It is unclear if Noom still has space in the 1.6M SF building. Betterment has an office in Chelsea and has spent several years between a few buildings on West 23rd Street, but it plans to leave Chelsea and relocate to Five Manhattan West when its lease expires later this year, according to CO. Michael Mathias of Cushman & Wakefield brokered the deal for both the subtenant and sublandlord.
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Electric vehicle company Revel has signed a lease for the rights to develop a public fast charging station by LaGuardia Airport, according to a release. The 27K SF lease for 90-10 Ditmars Blvd. will reportedly be the largest electric vehicle charging station by an airport in the country. The Barone Management-owned property is adjacent to the airport and will be accessible to drivers visiting the airport or the for-hire vehicle waiting area.
TOP SALES
A joint venture of Citadel's Ken Griffin, Rudin Management and Vornado Realty Trust is under contract to buy the air rights of St. Bartholomew’s Church, Commercial Observer reported. The Midtown East church at 325 Park Ave. has agreed to sell its air rights to the venture, which would use them to facilitate the construction of a 51-story office tower for Citadel at 350 Park Ave. A judge needs to sign off on the deal due to the Episcopal church’s status as a nonprofit selling real estate. Citadel wasn't directly involved in the deal, but the hedge fund is also under contract to buy 525K SF of air rights at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue.
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Watermark Capital Group is under contract to purchase a church in disrepair in Downtown Brooklyn for $15M, PincusCo reported. The Hanson Place Central United Methodist Church at 144 St. Felix St. has multiple building violations and has already moved its congregation to a new site, Crain’s New York Business reported. The site has more than 164K SF of development rights, although the existing building is just 65K SF, according to The Real Deal. The buyer, Watermark Capital Group, put down a $14M deposit on signing the contract, although the state must approve the sale before it becomes final.
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Chris Jiashu Xu is buying a development site 42-50 24th St. in Long Island City for $57.5M, PincusCo first reported. The seller is a joint venture that includes the Hakim Organization and Fisher Brothers. The site most recently sold for $69M in 2015 to the Hakim Organization and Property Markets Group. It isn't clear when Fisher Brothers got involved, but the owner-developer submitted plans for a 240-unit mixed-use project including hotel rooms as well as apartments in 2019, The Real Deal reported. Xu has another property a block away at 42-53 24th St. and is reportedly planning a 14-story, 213K SF mixed-use building there.
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Canadian REIT H&R Real Estate Investment Trust has purchased a majority stake in a Gowanus residential property owned by All Year Management for $76.5M, Commercial Observer reported. The deal gives the REIT 75% ownership of 459 Smith St., a property that All Year bought for $48M in 2017. But All Year, run by Yoel Goldman, reportedly took on too much debt while waiting for the neighborhood’s rezoning process to complete, ending up with demands to start repaying $66M in 2020. The rezoning finally came through in 2021, but when All Year kicked off construction a year later, a local group sued. Plans for the site, including one proposal from H&R that could yield as many as hundreds of units of housing, have yet to be approved by the Department of City Planning.
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Legion Investment Group has paid $68.3M for several lots in Gramercy Park where it plans to build a condo property, Commercial Observer reported. Legion filed plans with the city in November for an 11-story condo property at 252-258 Third Ave., which would have the address of 38 Gramercy Park E. The deal, which was actually four separate transactions, gives Legion the lots at 252, 254, 256 and 258 Third Ave. The existing buildings on the site include a four-story walk-up building and a mixture of one- and two-story retail storefronts.
TOP FINANCING
Lightstone Group nabbed $346M in two refinancing deals in Chelsea and Long Island City, PincusCo reported. The investment and development firm landed $177.8M to refinance the Moxy Chelsea hotel at 105 W. 28th St., which replaces a $124M sum from LoanCore Capital. The lender was undisclosed. Separately, JLL refinanced a Lightstone-owned 428-unit multifamily building at 30-02 39th Ave. with a $168M loan that replaced $187M in debt with Citibank.
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Hotelier David Marx scored a $185M debt package for his upcoming hotel project near Hudson Yards from Madison Realty Capital, Cerberus Capital Management and EB-5 investors, The Real Deal reported. The financing replaces $185M in debt held by Claros Mortgage Trust. Marx is planning a 51-story, 379-key hotel at 450 11th Ave. Madison provided an $89M senior loan and a $44M mezzanine loan, TRD reported. Marx expects the hotel to open next year after a long road to completion. He first bought the property in 2007 for $45M but later lost control to Lehman Brothers, the lender at the time. In 2013, Marx paid $35M to claw back the site for the hotel, recently rebranded as Hotel Meta.
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Starwood Property Trust has agreed to lend RXR $118M to refinance two properties, Commercial Observer reported. The financing replaces two mortgages, worth $102.8M and $28.3M, respectively, that were provided by Capital One in 2020. The deal will also consolidate and transfer the two unpaid principal sums of $96.4M and $21.7M into a single lien. The first property covered by the new agreement is RXR’s Downtown Brooklyn office property, The Hall, which opened during the pandemic and remains largely empty, although it recently signed a contract with the city to serve as a migrant shelter. The second property covered by the agreement is RXR’s New Rochelle multifamily development, One Clinton Park.
