This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet
This past week was one of the most active of the year in New York City commercial real estate, with six-figure office leases, a half-billion-dollar building sale and billions in new loans handed out.
TOP LEASES
Tenants signed more than 300K SF of lease agreements at Related Cos. and Allianz's 30 Hudson Yards through sublease agreements with Warner Bros. Discovery, the New York Post reports. In the first deal, law firm Covington & Burling subleased 235K SF from the media giant. Asking rents for the space now occupied by the law firm were reportedly $112 per SF. In the second deal, trading firm Susquehanna International Group subleased 74K SF. Robert Alexander, Anthony Manginelli, Taylor Callaghan and Ryan Alexander of CBRE represented Warner Bros. in both deals. Matthew Barlow, Jeffrey Peck and Steve Barker of Savills represented the law firm, while Brian Goldman, Ross Perlman and Matthew Lorberbaum of Newmark repped Susquehanna. Warner’s lease in the building lasts until 2034, with both new tenants planning on moving into direct deals for their respective spaces once the sublease agreements run out, sources told the Post. Warner once owned its 1.4M SF commercial condo in the building but sold it back to Related for $2.2B in 2019.
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Rubenstein Partners signed La Sirena Events to 23K SF for 15 years at 25 Kent in Williamsburg, according to a release. The event and catering venue will operate under the name Vesper. La Sirena is the events and catering business of Room 11 Hospitality, which already has three venues in the city. Vesper will have a 400-guest capacity and host large-scale private events like weddings, galas and corporate affairs. JLL repped the landlord and the tenant, with Sam Seiler and Joe Whitten Morris acting on behalf of Rubenstein Partners. Seiler also repped the tenant, along with Joseph Sipala.
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Law firm Herrick Feinstein shrunk its footprint at its longtime 2 Park Ave. office, striking a new deal for 77K SF on the entire 14th floor and part of the 15th floor of the 1M SF office building, according to a release. The firm had previously had about 130K SF, but 25K SF of that space was subleased to Corporate Suites, Commercial Observer reported. That deal for the 20th floor has now been turned into a direct deal with the landlord, Morgan Stanley subsidiary Prime Property Fund. PPF also landed infrastructure consulting firm AECOM, which signed for 18K SF on the 15th floor. Building ownership was represented by Cushman & Wakefield’s Tara Stacom, Mitchell Arkin, Peter Trivelas and Mike Tranfalia. Herrick Feinstein was repped by JLL’s John Wheeler and Peter Riguardi; AECOM was repped by JLL’s Ed DiTolla, Henry Warner and William Korchak; and Corporate Suites was repped by Cushman & Wakefield’s Garett Varricchio and Mark Weiss.
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Skanska USA Civil Northeast has signed a 20K SF lease at 21-01 51st Ave. in Long Island City, according to a release. The property is known as the Cardinal Building and is owned by the Kaufman Organization and True North. Asking rents in the three-story, 63K SF building were $42 per SF. The Kaufman Organization’s Grant Greenspan repped the landlord, while BIOC Commercial Real Estate’s Jonathan Stravitz repped the tenant.
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Allied Irish Banks PLC of New York is relocating its Manhattan headquarters to The Durst Organization's 825 Third Ave., according to a release. The bank has signed a full-floor, 11K SF lease in the 530K SF property. Other tenants in the building include Dimension Renewable Energy, Gotham Asset Management and Toyota Tsusho America Inc. AIB was repped by CBRE’s Matthew McBride, while Durst was repped by Tom Bow, Ashlea Aaron, Sayo Kamara and Bailey Caliban.
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Shvo has signed Accor, a Parisian hospitality company, to a 23K SF office at the recently renovated 711 Fifth Ave., the New York Post reported. The lease will see Accor occupy the seventh floor of Michael Shvo's renovated 18-story building, which is now 90% occupied and has tenants including the members-only Core Club.
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Boston Properties has signed digital media company Ziff Davis to 23K SF at its 360 Park Ave. office tower, according to a release. The 440K SF, 20-story Class-A tower has recently received upgrades, including a redesign of the ground floor and the addition of food and beverage options, a roof deck just for tenants, and an amenity center with conferencing and work lounge seating areas. CBRE’s Peter Turchin, Gregg Rothkin, Ross Zimbalist, Arkady Smolyansky, Hayden Pascal and Trevor Larkin repped building ownership. Sacha Zarba and Jeff Fischer, also of CBRE, repped the tenant in the deal. BXP bought out a Canadian pension fund's 29% stake in the building this year for $1.
TOP SALES
Bloomberg Philanthropies acquired RFR Holding’s 980 Madison Ave. for $560M. The 134K SF building on the Upper East Side is considered an art institution and was home to several galleries in the recent past. Last year, Bloomberg Philanthropies signed a long-term lease for more than 85% of the space. It is unclear who brokered the deal.
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Related Fund Management sold 321 W. 44th St. for less than $50M, Bloomberg reported. The sale is a steep discount, as Related Fund Management paid $153M to acquire the 10-story, 220K SF office building in 2018. The buyers in the deal were Empire Capital Holdings and Namdar Realty Group. CBRE brokers arranged the sale.
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Douglaston Development has purchased a 90-unit apartment building at 1450 Third Ave. for $114.5M, The Real Deal reported. Randy Modell and Steven Hornstock of ABS Partners advised the seller, Marjorie Nesbitt, on the deal. Douglaston plans to demolish the existing property to build a 39-story, 72-unit building in its place and has already secured $270.5M in construction and acquisition loans.
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Private real estate investor Premier Equities sold 1149 Broadway to Azora Exan for $47.9M, Commercial Observer reported. Azora Exan is the U.S. branch of European firm Azora. Adam Spies, Marcella Fasulo, Adam Etra, Jessica Shevins, Michael Collins and Meaghan Philbin of Newmark brokered the deal. Private Equities has only owned the property since 2019 and last tried to sell the building a year ago for $60M. It bought 1149 Broadway for $40.3M a year after former owner Jagdish Vaswani closed the property and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, The Real Deal previously reported. Hotel and short-term rental company Sonder occupies the second through ninth floors of the building.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Avery Hall secured a $140M refinancing for luxury rental building One Boerum Place, The Real Deal reported. The new loan comes from KKR affiliate Forethought Life Insurance Co. It replaces a loan from QuadReal. Avery Hall bought the development site in 2016 to build condos but pivoted to luxury rental and recapitalized in 2021. Christopher Peck and Peter Rotchford of JLL repped Avery Hall in this week’s refinancing.
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The Durst Organization landed a major financing package for its Sven apartment building in Long Island City, the second-tallest tower in Queens. Wells Fargo provided a $450M debt package, while Affinius Capital paid more than $100M for an equity stake that values the 958-unit building at more than $700M, Bloomberg reports.
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The Rabsky Group scored a $485M loan from Madison Realty Capital for a multifamily project in Downtown Brooklyn, Commercial Observer reported. The sum will fund the construction of a 35-story mixed-use building at 625 Fulton St. featuring 1,098 apartments and 26K SF of retail space. The project was approved for the 421-a tax break prior to its expiration and has 30% of its units reserved as affordable housing. The loan replaces a 2021 loan for $450M, also from Madison Realty Capital.
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Murphy & McManus has refinanced the Harlem property home to the New York Proton Center, a cancer treatment hub at 225 E. 126th St., Crain’s New York Business reported. The loan was worth $162.1M and was provided by Nomura Securities International.
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Valley National Bank has agreed to lend $210M to NYC-based developer Artimus for a mixed-use building in West Harlem, PincusCo reported. The sum will function as a construction loan for a 28-story, 490-unit apartment building at 1440 Amsterdam Ave. Artimus is partnering with fellow NYC developer Grid Group for the project, according to Commercial Observer.
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KABR Group nabbed a $69M loan from ACORE Capital for its Ideal Building property at 184-10 and 184-60 Jamaica Ave., Commercial Observer reported. KABR has owned the two sites, which have interconnected five- and six-story buildings combining for 618K SF, since it paid Artemis Real Estate Partners $73M to acquire them in 2022. A CBRE team led by Gideon Gil and Dale Braverman arranged the deal.
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Israel-based bank Reznik Paz Nevo Trusts has agreed to lend $52M to Namdar Group and business partners including Klosed Properties and Kordvani Realty, PincusCo reported. The sum will refinance 20 mixed-use, hospitality and residential properties across three boroughs. The properties already have an outstanding principal of $95.1M, resulting in an overall debt of $147.1M, Commercial Observer reported. The properties include a mixed-use Brooklyn rental at 191 Bedford Ave., a rental at 2509 Hoffman St. in the Bronx, Murray Hill’s Little Charlie Hotel at 837 Second Ave., and a mixed-use property at 568 Ninth Ave. in Hell’s Kitchen.
