This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet
Following up one of the quarter's best weeks in the New York City office market, deals slowed back down this week as the temperature heats up and Q2 draws to a close.
TOP LEASES
Helen Keller Services for the Blind is relocating its Brooklyn headquarters. The nonprofit has signed a 46K SF lease at Thor Equities' 180 Livingston St., just two blocks away from its longtime home at the 96K SF 57-63 Willoughby St., which it sold earlier this year for $54M. The organization will take part of the first floor and all of the second floor of 180 Livingston St. Newmark Knight Frank's Whitten Morris and Joseph Sipala repped the landlord, while Keith Caggiano and Timothy Sheehan of CBRE repped Helen Keller Services for the Blind.
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Broadway Technology is the latest firm to sign on to Fosun Property Group's renovation of Chase Manhattan Plaza, now known as 28 Liberty, in the Financial District. The software company plans to take 25K SF on the 50th floor for an asking rent of $75/SF. JLL's John Wheeler and Michael Berman repped Fosun, along with in-house leasing agent Tom Costanza, and Savills Studley's team of Zev Holzman, Paul Revson and Brian Scharfman repped Broadway. The lease is for 15 years in the building, which will also be the new home of the New York Attorney General's office and Manhattan's first Alamo Drafthouse.
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Investment bank Needham & Co. is moving its Midtown address down the street, from 445 Park Ave. to 250 Park Ave., where it will take the entire 30K SF 10th floor. The building's owner, AEW Capital Management, was repped by a Cushman & Wakefield team of David Hoffman Jr., Robert Billingsley and Whitnee Williams. Atco Management Services' Peter Goldich repped the tenant. 250 Park is 98% occupied with two small, pre-built suites left available.
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A food hall by the Cipriani family is coming to the posh Waterline Square condo megaproject on the Upper West Side. The concept, to be run by the family famed for its fine-dining Italian restaurants, will occupy 28K SF on the ground floor of two of the three buildings under construction from GID Development and designed by a trifecta of renowned architects. NKF's Mitch Friedel repped GID; his colleague, Barry Goodman, repped Cipriani.
TOP SALES
The Ravenswood Generating Station site, a 1.1M SF power plant property in Long Island City, has changed hands for $167.4M. LS Power bought the plant and its lot at 37-20 37th Ave., which largely uses natural gas, from TransCanada. It was originally built by Con Ed before being sold in 1999.
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Three adjacent buildings on Bowery in Manhattan have changed hands after decades of family ownership. The family of David Cohen sold 162-166 Bowery for a combined $23.5M to investor Ari Zagdanski. The deal was brokered by Marshall Real Estate, and marks the last property in which the family, now based in Florida, has a controlling interest in the neighborhood.
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Brooklyn-based Heller Realty sold the 96-unit apartment building at 89-10 Whitney Ave. in Elmhurst, Queens, for $23.4M. The 89K SF property is rent-stabilized and was acquired by Antonio Feggoudakis. The deal was brokered by Rosewood Realty Group’s Aaron Jungreis and Michael Guttman.
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City Skyline Realty sold a 41-unit apartment building in Manhattan's up-and-coming Hamilton Heights for $17M. Hodges Ward Elliot Senior Vice President Daniel Parker repped City Skyline and found a buyer, Trion Real Estate Management, for the property at 48 St. Nicholas Place.
Sales data courtesy of Reonomy.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Morgan Stanley has arranged two loans for a combined $514M to RXR Realty to refinance 237 Park Ave., also known as 466 Lexington Ave. RXR owns 51% of the 1.3M SF building, and Walton Street Capital owns the other 49%. Walton Street Capital is actively marketing its stake in the 98%-occupied property, which the JV bought out of bankruptcy for $810M in 2013. The New York Post reported in March that RXR and Walton Street were seeking a recapitalization up to $1.4B as part of the transaction.
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To finance its power plant acquisition, LS Power secured a $160M loan from Credit Suisse's Cayman Island branch. LS Power's CEO said in a statement he plans to make the acquisition a smooth one for the plant's employees.
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The William Kaufman Organization, after signing three leases in May, has refinanced its loan on 437 Madison Ave. for $145M. The loan, provided by Bank of America, replaces an expiring $105M loan from Apple Bank and adds $40M of new debt on the building.
Financing data courtesy of Reonomy.