This Week's NY Deal Sheet

After signing the biggest lease of last week, Brookfield locked down the biggest financial transaction of this week, landing two loans for $790M for 200 Liberty St. in Brookfield Place. Here were the other major transactions in New York City commercial real estate last week.

TOP LEASES

Kramer Levin re-upped its lease at Silverstein Properties' 1177 Avenue of the Americas, staying in 265k SF of the Midtown skyscraper until 2035. The deal is a reduction of Kramer Levin's space, as, like all law firms, it is right-sizing its offices and doing away with excessive space usage, like legal libraries. Newmark Grubb Knight Frank's Moshe Sukenik, Chris Mongeluzo and Brian Cohen repped Kramer Levin, while Roger Silverstein, Joseph Artusa and Camille McGratty repped Silverstein in-house. Asking rents in the building are in the mid-$80s/SF.

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Lone Star Funds will more than double its space in Vornado's 888 Seventh Ave., increasing its footprint from 22k SF to 50k SF. CBRE's Harly Stevens repped the tenant, while Jared Solomon repped Vornado in-house. The deal is a win for Midtown and NYC: A financial tenant growing its footprint is a great sign for the market. Asking rents in the building are in the mid-$80s/SF.

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Orix USA Corp. is expanding and moving to a Vornado-owned building. The American subsidiary of the Japanese Orix Corp. will occupy 20k SF at 280 Park Ave., the trophy building Vornado co-owns with SL Green. Orix is moving from 14k SF at 485 Lexington Ave. Asking rent in the deal was $110/SF. CBRE's Mary Ann Tighe, Peter Turchin, Sam Seiler and Greg Rothkin repped the JV, while JLL's Martin Horner repped Orix.

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Co-working provider Ignitia Office has signed a deal to open a 17k SF location in Crown Heights with landlord BFC Partners and Brownstowner Development. The 15-year deal, at 1000 Dean St., is for part of the building's ground floor. TerraCRG's Christopher Havens repped the landlord.

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Lighthouse Investment Partners is picking up and moving, relocating to an 18k SF floor at the William Kaufman Org.'s 437 Madison Ave. The investment firm is moving to the 21st floor of the 40-story, 850k SF tower from 680 Fifth Ave. in the second quarter, according to WKO. Sage Realty's Michael Lenchner and JLL's Frank Doyle, David Kleiner, Cynthia Wasserberger, Hayley Shoener and Harlan Webster repped the landlord, while CBRE's Keith Caggiano and Gary Davies repped the tenant. Asking rents in the building range from $80 to $110/SF. 437 Madison was built 50 years ago, but WKO just completed a multimillion-dollar revamp to the building.

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The Liberian government has signed a 10k SF lease at 228 East 45th St. The deal moves the government's diplomatic offices a few blocks from the United Nations. MHP Real Estate Services' Gil Robinov repped the tenant, and EVO Real Estate Group’s Robert Rosenberg represented landlord Steinberg & Pokoik.

TOP SALES

The biggest sale that closed last week was not an office building, apartment building or a retail space on a main corridor; it was an Upper East Side townhouse. Andrew Farkas sold 12 East 73rd St. for $41M, $18M more than he bought it for in 2007. He sold it to an unidentified buyer after a multi-year renovation program. 

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Glory Capital has closed on its $28.6M sale of 67 Livingston St. in Brooklyn Heights to a group of Long Island investors. The 29-story, pencil-thin building was once owned by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and served most recently as a dorm for the Art Institute of New York City, but it is currently vacant. The buyers are reportedly planning a conversion to luxury condos. 

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A Larry Cerullo-led entity has sold 36-02 35th Ave. in Long Island City, also known as 35-01 36th St., for $24M. The four-story building comes with 34k SF of air rights, which new owner Wharton Equity Partners could use to add to the office-and-retail property’s creative offering, trying to lure some tech companies to the rapidly expanding submarket. 

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Developer Bo Jin Zhu has sold 324-326 Grand St. in Manhattan for $21.2M to private investment firm Empire Capital Holdings. Empire, led by managing partners Josh Rahmani and Ebi Khalili, bought the recently completed 20-unit apartment building free of debt.

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Prologis completed its two-part purchase of a 194k SF industrial facility in the Bronx for $17M. The industrial investor paid $11.5M the previous week for the other condo at 1055 Bronx River Ave. The sellers were owners of ABC Carpet & Home, which had its headquarters in the property.

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Donald Marchese of Royal Plastics Corp. sold 2840 Atlantic Ave., a warehouse, and two adjacent parcels in Brooklyn for $11M. The buyer: LSC Development. One of the parcels, on Schenk Avenue, can accommodate 20k SF of development if it includes a community facility.

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HAP Investments has completed the package for its two 21-story Chelsea towers, according to The Real Deal. HAP bought the 22-unit apartment building at 221 West 28th St., the property in between its proposed developments, and plans to raze it.

Sales data provided courtesy of Reonomy.

TOP FINANCING DEALS

Brookfield closed on two loans totaling $790M from Kiwoon Milestone US for 200 Liberty St., one of the buildings in Brookfield Place. Kiwoon, an affiliate of Civitas, provided the financing, which also consolidated a 10-year-old, $310M loan from German American Capital. The Associated Press is in the 31-year-old, 1.7M SF office building. 

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SL Green closed on a $450M refinancing at 485 Lexington Ave., provided by Goldman Sachs. The loan, broken up into two deals — one of $315M, the other $135M — will stabilize the 921k SF Midtown building, which SL Green acquired in 2004.

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Canadian H&R REIT landed a $250M refinancing of its 670k SF office tower Two Gotham Center, at 42-01 28th St. in Long Island City. The financing came primarily from Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance. The property is leased to the New York City Department of Health.

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SL Green also refinanced 315 West 33rd St., its mixed-use Midtown property, with a $250M loan from Rothesay Life, a British insurance firm. The building is branded as The Olivia, with 333 apartments over 265k SF of commercial uses. 

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An affiliate of the Worldwide Group has nailed down two loans for a combined $270M from Starwood Capital Group for 252 East 57th St., a luxury multifamily building WWG co-developed with Rose Associates. The building has 93 condos, 173 rental apartments and a Whole Foods on the ground floor. Starwood provided a construction loan on the undulated, SOM Architects-designed building two years ago.

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The New York State Urban Development Corp. received a $150M loan from BNY Mellon for the air rights above the Farley Post Office. The Empire State Development Corp. controls the 1.4M SF of air rights on the post office, which will be redeveloped into Moynihan Station by a team of Related, Vornado and Skanska, including creative office above the existing building.

Financing data provided courtesy of Reonomy.