This Week’s N.Y. Deal Sheet
A major hotel trading hands to a Miami company making its Big Apple debut was the biggest transaction in New York City this week.
TOP SALES
Gencom paid more than $300M to acquire the Thompson Central Park New York, a 587-room luxury hotel at 119 W. 56th St., from GFI Hospitality and Elliott Management. The hotel investor, which has a portfolio of luxury resorts in South Florida, the Caribbean and Philadelphia, financed the deal with a $230M acquisition loan from Ramsfield Hospitality Finance, Affinius Capital and funds managed by AB CarVal. GFI and Elliott paid roughly $420M to buy the then 729-key hotel in 2019, then spent $100M converting a portion of the rooms into for-sale condos. Eastdil Secured arranged the financing for the acquisition and also represented the sellers.
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Private equity firm Capstone Equities and property management company AmTrust RE are in contract to buy 360 Lexington Ave. office tower for a third of the price Savanna bought it for, The Real Deal reported. The 24-story office tower is reportedly set to go for $65M in a deal negotiated by Adam Spies, Adam Doneger, Joshua King and Marcella Fasulo of Newmark. Savanna purchased the 269K SF building for $180M in 2019, which its new owners plan to keep as office for now, Commercial Observer reported. But the building is still only around 60% leased, with its largest tenant taking up just 30K SF.
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Madison Realty Capital has acquired 4452 Broadway, HAP Investment Developers' mixed-use Washington Heights project, out of bankruptcy for $26.5M, Commercial Observer reported. HAP bought the site in 2013 for $7.3M and in 2015 planned a 241-unit property on the site, but ran into opposition from local residents for its proposed seven-story height. Madison was the lender on the property, chipping in a $52.5M loan in 2019 for the project’s piled debt and construction costs, but construction stalled and the developer filed for bankruptcy in 2022.
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Extell Development is in contract to sell its former Harlem Headquarters development site for $70M, PincusCo reported. Potential buyers have not yet been named, but the contract was flagged in a listing with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Commercial Observer reported.
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NYC Housing Partnership and Jonathan Rose Cos. have sold a row of 10 Harlem rental buildings to Metropolitan Realty Group for $64M, PincusCo reported. The contiguous properties at 107-145 W. 135th St. span a total of 164K SF and all rise to around six stories. A $64.7M Fannie Mae loan provided by Greystone financed the acquisition.
TOP LEASES
Private equity company 17Capital is moving out of One Vanderbilt. The London-based firm is relocating to Property & Building Corp.’s Midtown Manhattan office tower at 452 Fifth Ave., 10 Bryant, according to a release. The 30-story building once known as HSBC Tower is now fully occupied, although its formerly eponymous anchor tenant is moving to The Spiral in Hudson Yards next year. In an expansion, 17Capital is taking a full, 16K SF floor in its new digs. David Mainthow and Troy Elias of Cushman & Wakefield repped the tenant in the deal.
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L&L Holding Co. has signed public relations conglomerate Orchestra to a 42K SF office lease at 195 Broadway, the New York Post reported. The tenant plans to move into the 1M SF Financial District tower early next year. Orchestra is the new face of BerlinRosen Holdings, which rebranded in March, according to Commercial Observer, as a network of eight agency partners: BerlinRosen, Brightmode Talent, Derris, Glen Echo Media Group, Inkhouse, Message Lab, M18 and Onward. Jonathan Tootell, Tanya Grimaldo and Giannina Brancato of L&L handled the deal in-house for the landlord, while Mary Ann Tighe, Ariel Ball and Zachary Price of CBRE repped the tenant.
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Budget gym chain Crunch Fitness is coming to Inwood in Manhattan, Commercial Observer reported. Crunch signed a 20K SF lease at The Jay Group’s 401 W. 207th St. development. The landlord is developing what was previously a gas station into an 18-story rental building that is expected to complete next year.
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Armanino, an accounting firm, has signed a deal for a 19K SF office at 437 Madison Ave., CO reported. Armanino is based in San Ramon, California, but entered the New York market in 2021 when it opened a 30-person office. It acquired fellow accounting and advisory firm Janover last year, adding a further 190 employees and spreading itself between a Manhattan address at 485 Madison Ave. and a Queens address, 100 Quentin Roosevelt Blvd. Asking rents for the 437 Madison Ave. space were $105 per SF. JLL’s Frank Doyle and Michael Pallas brokered the deal for the landlords, Sage and the Travelers Cos., with Sage’s Michael Lenchner and Jack Brennan also working on the deal in-house. Michael Cohen and Maria Valanzano of Colliers repped the tenant.
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Cosmetology school Aveda Arts & Sciences is setting up shop in Dumbo, signing a 16K SF lease at Two Trees Management’s 35 Pearl St., Crain’s New York Business reported. The deal will see Aveda Arts move its flagship NYC campus from SoHo to Brooklyn, but will stay at 233 Spring St. until it moves to Pearl Street next summer on a 10-year lease with asking rents at $35 to $50 per SF. Its new space is slightly smaller than the almost 20K SF it occupies in Stellar Management’s SoHo property. Two Trees’ Alyssa Zahler and Jarad Winter repped the landlord in-house, while Eli Yadid and Rafi Benor of KSR repped Aveda.
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Events company Posh has signed an 11K SF lease with rents at $120 per SF in Lower Manhattan, Commercial Observer reported. Posh is relocating from the nearby 110 Greene St. for the five-year lease at KPG Funds’ luxury 70K SF building at 40 Crosby St. The deal was brokered by LSL Advisors’ Eric Siegel and Raymond Balassian on behalf of the tenant and by KPG’s Greg Kraut and Newmark’s David Malawer for the landlord.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Northwind Group loaned $120M to Shvo and Deutsche Finance America’s Mandarin Oriental Residences. The inventory loan will go toward selling the 50 unsold condo units at the 685 Fifth Ave. project. There are a total of 65 condos in the building, which was previously fashion house Gucci’s headquarters.
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Slate Property Group’s debt financing arm, Scale Lending, has agreed to lend $135M to the Beitel Group for the two 14-story multifamily buildings it is developing in the Bronx’s Mott Haven neighborhood. The Beitel Group acquired the site in spring 2022 and tore down the existing buildings to make way for the new buildings at 261 Grand Concourse and 315 Grand Concourse, which both benefit from the 421-a tax abatement. The loan has a 24-month term with two six-month extension options and was arranged by Landstone Capital's Leah Paskus. The developer expects to complete the buildings, which would span a total of 348K SF, in November 2025.
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Sprague Energy has refinanced 11 industrial properties with a $150M loan from Dutch global bank Rabobank, PincusCo reported. The portfolio includes several properties in the Bronx's Mott Haven neighborhood: 220 Locust Ave., 1040 E. 149th St., 939 E. 138th St. and 184 Locust Ave.
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Bridge Investment Group gave a fresh cash injection to an 11-property multifamily portfolio, PincusCo reported. The $272.7M refi loan covers 625 units, including a 200-unit building at 250 W. 19th St., a 92-unit property 31 at E. 31st St. and a 75-unit building at 344 E. 63rd St. The borrowers were Fairstead, Blackstone Group, Island Capital and Atlas Capital Group.
CORRECTION, SEPT. 18, 3 P.M. ET: A previous version mischaracterized the future of Savanna’s relationship to 360 Lexington Ave. This story has been updated.
