This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet: Blue Owl Expands At Seagram Building
Another private equity firm is expanding on Park Avenue, continuing this year's biggest office leasing trend, while a Google renewal could signal a turning of the tide in the tech market.
TOP LEASES
Global alternative asset manager Blue Owl Capital is expanding in the Seagram Building at 375 Park Ave. The firm will now have a total of 240K SF in the RFR Realty-owned tower, increasing their space by 42% and occupying the second through sixth floors as well as the 16th through 19th floors, Bloomberg reported. Blue Owl has been in the building since 2022 and the property is now almost fully leased. Cushman & Wakefield’s Mark Weiss represented Blue Owl, a spokesperson for the brokerage told Bisnow.
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Google inked a 300K SF renewal with a joint venture of Vornado Real Estate Trust and Related Cos. for its space at 85 10th Ave., an 11-story red brick building in Chelsea that was built as a warehouse more than a century ago, The Real Deal reported. The lease in the 635K SF building is good for eight years, leaving Google in the company of fellow tenants Shopify and biometric screening company Clear. Google kept the lease despite owning its own buildings at 111 Eighth Ave., Chelsea Market and its new headquarters at 550 Washington St. CBRE’s David Hollander and Ken Rapp represented Google, while the Vornado and Related joint venture was represented in-house by Related’s Stephen Winter.
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Irish budget apparel retailer Primark has signed a deal with Vornado for 79K SF at 150 W. 34th St. that will serve as its flagship U.S. store, according to a release. The deal includes 54K SF of retail space and will be the retailer’s 11th in New York State after another planned store opening takes place in Queens later this year. David LaPierre with CBRE represented the tenant and Ed Hogan with Vornado represented the landlord in-house.
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New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development renewed its lease for office space on the Upper East Side for its Office of Enforcement and Neighborhood Services’ Emergency Operations Division. The department will stay put across 27K SF spread between 104 and 105 E. 106th St. for another two years, Commercial Observer reported. The renewal was approved by the City Planning Commission and has the city paying landlord WMC Associates an annual rent of $1.1M.
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The Brandtech Group signed for 15K SF at 155 Sixth Ave., Commercial Observer reported. The property is part of the 12-building portfolio that makes up Hudson Square Properties and is owned by a joint venture of Hines, Trinity Church Wall Street and Norges Bank. Asking rent was $85 per SF, with Brandtech taking the entire 11th floor of the 15-story property for 10 years. David Falk, Jason Greenstein and Claire Koeppel of Newmark repped Brandtech. Peter Shimkin and Jonathan Franzel, also of Newmark, represented building ownership.
TOP SALES
Atlas Capital Group has acquired 80 Dekalb Ave., a 36-story multifamily property with 365 residential units and almost 5K SF of retail at its base. KKR, the seller, is getting $202.5M in the deal for the building, which is known as the Axel. Jeffrey Julien, Rob Hinckley and Steven Rutman of JLL repped both the buyer and seller in the deal, which is Atlas’ second Brooklyn purchase, following its acquisition of Bushwick building The Denizen in 2021.
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The Vanbarton Group is in contract talks to buy the headquarters of the Archdiocese of New York with hopes of turning the office building at 1011 First Ave. in Midtown East into rental housing, Bloomberg reported. The deal is reportedly valued at more than $100M, with CBRE’s Doug Middleton advising the Archdiocese as the sale proceeds. The Archdiocese is consolidating its offices at 488 Madison Ave., near St. Patrick’s Cathedral, but has kept its HQ at 1011 First for decades.
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Benchmark Real Estate Group sold a Brooklyn Heights apartment building at a 13% loss, Crain’s New York Business reported. Ben-Josef Group Holdings snapped up 25 Monroe Place, a 12-story, 67-unit rental with 13 rent-stabilized units, for $43.5M. Benchmark acquired the building in 2015, shelling out $50M for it at the time and pouring money into renovations since then. This is Ben-Josef Group Holdings’ second purchase in recent months after the firm spent $20M in June for a 29-unit Boerum Hill property.
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The Related Cos.' investment arm, Related Fund Management, sold a Williamsburg rental at a 53% discount, Crain’s reported. The property, a six-story apartment building with 54 units including 15 rent-regulated units, is at 442 Lorimer St. Related got $12M for the building from Palladium Property Group but paid $25.5M in 2016. Palladium financed the acquisition with a $9M loan from Customers Bank.
TOP FINANCING
Alpaca Real Estate, an alternative investment manager, led a $300M recapitalization of a 284-unit residential property at 545 Vanderbilt Ave. in Brooklyn, according to a release. The property, known as The Axel, spans 29 stories and is 97% leased. It’s unclear how much of the total loan came from Alpaca or who the other partners were, Commercial Observer reported. Developer Hope Street Capital opened the property in 2022 and refinanced with a $204M loan from MF1 Capital in the same year. MF1 reportedly remains part of the new recap.
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Valley National Bank loaned $155M to Joel Landau and Marvin Rubin for a Bed-Stuy development site set to become a 226-unit unit residential building, PincusCo reported. The property, 600 Dekalb Ave., will span almost 200K SF and was permitted this summer.
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Camber Property Group scored a $96.2M refi on three multifamily and retail properties in East New York, PincusCo reported. The cash came from Merchants Capital and replaced a $90M loan from Merchants Bank of Indiana. The properties covered by the loan are the 195-unit residential building at 579 Blake Ave., the 65-unit retail building at 592 Sutter Ave. and 330 Sheffield Ave.
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ASAP Holdings scored a $45M refi with UBS for a hotel at 144-10 135th Ave. in Ozone Park, Queens, PincusCo reported. The loan replaces a sum from Peachtree Group that was roughly $43.7M. The deal closed in the first week of October and covers 144-10 135th Ave.
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Customers Bank provided a $44M refi to Peter Fine of Bolivar Development and Atlantic Development Group for a school building at 263 E. 203rd St. in the Bronx’s Bedford Park neighborhood, PincusCo reported. There is an 87K SF of built space and one active construction project on the site that received permits last June, with the refi closing in late September and replacing a $38.6M loan from M&T Bank.
