This Week’s N.Y. Deal Sheet: Continuum Lands $205M For Condo Project

Big leases and sales took a breather this past week, but a major development project steps from the Empire State Building landed more than $200M in construction financing.

TOP FINANCING DEALS

Ian Bruce Eichner's Continuum Co. has landed $205M worth of loans, split into a senior and a mezzanine sum, for a condo project on the site of a former church in Murray Hill. Kriss Capital provided a $180M senior loan and Klirmark Capital provided a $25M mezzanine loan, The Real Deal reported.

The closed site of the Community Church of New York, which has addresses at 40 E. 35th St. and 26 E. 35th St., is slated to become a 173K SF, 137-unit building by early 2027. The 18-story project will also include medical offices on its ground floor and parking. The Community Church sold the property to Continuum in 2022 when it was facing bankruptcy. Cole Schotz helped structure the debt and sale of the property, which closed in conjunction with the loan, Eichner told TRD.

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S3 Capital has provided a $48M construction loan to Lay Assets for a luxury residential condominium in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood. The loan will help the developer build a 27-unit property at 1214 Ocean Parkway, according to a release.  

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Sam Chang’s McSam Hotel Group scored a $65M refinancing from Deutsche Bank for its Springhill Suites New York Queens at 38-39 Ninth Street in Long Island City, PincusCo reported. The 270-key hotel is operated by Marriott and opened in 2023, Commercial Observer reported. Chang first acquired the site in 2018 for $10.1M and developed it in coordination with M&R Management, with the original project set to reach 324 keys before it was pared back to the existing 270 rooms. 

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Related Cos. netted a $300M loan from Bank of America for 11 parcels in East New York, Brooklyn, PincusCo reported. The debt refinances a $300M CMBS loan from August 2014. The land parcels together make up the Brooklyn neighborhood’s Gateway Center Mall.

TOP LEASES

SL Green has signed hedge fund Verition Fund Management to 73K SF at 245 Park Ave. Verition is expanding its space in the building by 34K SF, relocating its existing 38K SF space on the 35th floor to its new footprint across the full 14th and 15th floors. The hedge fund has been in the building since 2022 alongside tenants including Societe Generale, Angelo Gordon and Ares Management. Asking rents were not disclosed for Verition’s lease, but the New York Post reported in July that the building was commanding asking rents of $145 per SF. Newmark’s William Levitsky and John Cilmi repped Verition while Cushman & Wakefield’s Bruce Mosler, Harry Blair, Tara Stacom, Ron Lo Russo, Justin Royce, Pierce Hance and Will Yeatman repped SL Green. 

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Tesla has signed a 150K SF lease at Triangle Equities’ 30-02 Whitestone Expressway, the New York Business Journal reported. The deal was revealed in a Q3 industrial report from JLL. Tesla’s plans for the property are unclear. The site was previously home to the College Point Multiplex Cinemas as well as now-closed chains Party City and Toys R Us. Triangle planned to demolish the property after the cinema closed earlier this year, but when Tesla appeared as a viable tenant, Triangle instead decided to renovate it. 

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SL Green has signed Nayya Health to a 30K SF lease at 215 Park Ave. S. The five-year deal gives Nayya the entire 17K SF fourth floor and 13K SF across part of the 18th floor, according to a release. The 20-story, 339K SF building is now 92% leased and has a tenant roster including Industrious, Stellar Health Group, Rakuten USA and Global Strategies Group. CBRE’s Tim Freyberg repped Nayya and SL Green’s Howard Tenenbaum and Gary Rosen repped the landlord in-house.

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Simone Development has signed furniture company Anthony Lawrence-Belfair to 25K SF at 1200 Zerega Ave., Commercial Observer reported. The 10-year deal covers 25K SF in the building at $25 per SF and 19K SF of land for $12 per SF. The furniture company will move from its current location at 32-33 47th Ave. in Long Island City to the Bronx’s Unionport neighborhood. The space will function as a showroom and studio for the company, according to Simone Development. DY Realty’s Mathew Diana and an in-house team at Simone Development represented the landlord in the deal. Helen Paul and Rico Murtha of Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant along with Joseph Caputo of Exit Realty.

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Empire State Realty Trust has signed Bloomsbury Publishing to 24K SF at 1359 Broadway, CO reported. The London-based publisher will relocate its NYC office to the 22-story tower from its existing office a block away at 1385 Broadway. Stephen Bellwood and Rachel Rosenfeld of Cushman & Wakefield brokered the deal for the publisher, while Jordan Berger of ESRT and Paul Amrich, Neil King, Emily Chabrier, Meghan Allen and Kelly Tipton of CBRE repped the landlord.

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Chinese fast fashion brand Urban Revivo has signed for 30K SF to open its first U.S. store at 515 Broadway as it kicks off a U.S. expansion, according to a release. The landlord is 515 Broadway LLC, which is linked to Alegria Abergel, CO reported. Urban Revivo has 400 stores in China as well as stores in in Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. Ripco Real Estate's Gene Spiegelman and Savills UK's Sam Foyle repped Urban Revivo in the deal, while Lee & Associates' Paul Popkin repped the landlord.

TOP SALES

Metro Loft Management and David Werner Real Estate Investments have taken over the ground lease for 235 E. 42nd St., PincusCo reported. The duo spent $18M acquiring thelease from Alexandria Real Estate Equities, valuing the building at $45M, per city records cited by Commercial Observer. The partners previously acquired the land and building next door at 219 E. 42nd St., and Metro Loft's Nathan Berman told Commercial Observer that at 235 E. 42nd, the partnership is "on a path to acquiring the land as well,” and has already begun demolition.

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Acadia Realty Trust has acquired three retail buildings in Williamsburg for $35M from an entity called North Sixth Street Realty that is linked to owner of food wholesaler M&V Provisions Joseph Vallario, CO reported. The properties at 125, 127 and 129 N. Sixth St. span 11K SF and are occupied by tenants including Lululemon and Partners Coffee, although one storefront is vacant following the departure of apparel retailer Madewell. Ethan Stanton, Brendan Maddigan and Michael Mazzara of JLL repped both the buyer and seller in the deal.

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Great Neck-based real estate investment and property management firm Benedict Realty Group has acquired a Queens portfolio consisting mostly of rent-stabilized units for $46.5M in an off-market deal, TRD reported. The seller was Algin Management. Properties changing hands include 34-44 77th St., a three-building complex in Jackson Heights, and two six-story Elmhurst buildings at 56-11 94th St. and 40-40 79th St. Robert Khodadadian, Daniel Shirazi and Daniel Davidov of Skyline Properties brokered both sides of the deal. 

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Xin Development Group has sold 51 units at its Hell's Kitchen condo building to its lender, BH3 Management, for $50M, The Real Deal reported. The 500 W. 45th St. building has 92 residential units and five commercial units in total and has been facing foreclosure since September 2023. An auction was scheduled before Xin, which is a division of China-based Xinyuan Real Estate, put the building into bankruptcy protection in January. Xin completed the property in 2020 and received a $120M refinancing, with $90M in senior debt from Ares Capital and a $30M mezzanine from Georgetown Co. BH3 later acquired $79.7M in both senior and mezzanine debt.