N.Y. Deal Sheet: One Vanderbilt Signs German Bank Duo As Second Office Tenant
While New York City's investment sales market remains sluggish, its office leasing activity has enjoyed a steady September, with more leases being signed at new construction on Manhattan's West Side and at what will be New York's second-tallest tower.
TOP LEASES
One Vanderbilt signed a lease for its second office tenant Tuesday morning. Following anchor TD Bank, two German banks, Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank and DVB Bank SE, will move into the 26th floor of the 58-story, 1,401-foot-tall tower, for a combined 35K SF. The two interconnected banks will move in when the under-construction building next to Grand Central Terminal opens in three years. Evan Margolin, Lance Leighton and Brad Wolk of Savills Studley represented DZ and DVB Banks in the lease, and SL Green's Stephen Durels brokered the deal in-house for the office REIT, which co-owns the tower alongside co-developer Hines and the National Pension Service of Korea.
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The Clinton Foundation is moving within Midtown, leaving Rockefeller Group's 1271 Sixth Ave., which is undergoing a $600M renovation and not renewing current leases, for the Paramount Group's 1633 Broadway. The foundation signed a sublease for north of 36K SF with Extreme Reach for all of the fifth floor for 11 years at an asking rent of $58/SF. The foundation was represented in the lease by CBRE's Keith Caggiano and Roshan Shah, while Cushman & Wakefield's Mark Weiss and Seth Hecht represented the sublandlord.
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Amazon signed a landmark deal in yet another sign that Manhattan's most dominant force is the Far West Side. The web titan agreed to lease 360K SF at Brookfield's 5 Manhattan West, the mixed-use redevelopment project where Amazon's subsidiary, Whole Foods, already occupies 60K SF on the ground floor. Amazon will receive a $20M tax abatement from New York State if it creates 2,000 jobs at the new office. A Cushman & Wakefield team of Bruce Mosler, Josh Kuriloff, Rob Lowe, Ethan Silverstein and Matthias Li represented Brookfield, while JLL's Derek Trulson, Josh Stuart, Bill Peters and Clay Nielsen worked on behalf of Amazon.
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Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy has signed a 16-year lease for 108K SF at 1400 Broadway, a move that will bring the immigration law firm that specializes in EB-5 issues from Downtown to Midtown. Fragomen is leaving 7 Hanover Square for its new space, which had an asking rent of $59/SF. Newmark Knight Frank's Scott Klau, Eric Harris and Neil Rubin represented the landlord, Empire State Realty Trust, and NKF's John Shaunfield, Seth Weinstein and Paul Ippolito represented Fragomen.
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Knotel, continuing its rapid New York leasing pace, has signed a deal for 25K SF at The Moinian Group's 55 West 21st St., taking the entire building for its managed office suites, intended to be a step up from co-working providers like WeWork. Knotel decided to bridge the gap by partnering with WeWork competitor Grind to recommend clients who fit with each other's business model. As part of the deal, Knotel took over Grind's space at 419 Park Ave. South. Elie Reiss of Skylight Leasing represented Knotel at 55 West 21st St., where the company also has an option to expand to 30K SF. The Moinian Group's Gregg Weisser represented the company in-house.
TOP SALES
One of the last pieces of the Jehovah's Witnesses' Brooklyn Heights portfolio has officially traded hands. According to city property records, the Witnesses sold 97 Columbia Heights, a 12-story, 97-unit apartment building, to Los Angeles investor Hawkins Way Capital. The Witnesses acquired the property in 1986, and if the organization kept it up like it did the rest of its Brooklyn portfolio, the building has been well-maintained over the last 31 years. It also seems fit for a renovation into condominiums.
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Reliant Realty Partners has acquired a mixed-use apartment building in Washington Heights for $30.8M. The 76K SF building at 326 Fort Washington Ave., which includes four commercial units and 74 apartments across six floors, changed hands at a 2.6% cap rate, and turned a pretty profit for seller Sentinel Real Estate Corp., which bought the building for $8.5M in 2010 and sold it to Reliant for more than three times the price.
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Westchester-based REIT Acadia Realty Trust has sold an office building near the tip of Manhattan Island for $30.6M. Acadia sold the 53K SF 4055 10th Ave. in Inwood, which houses a SNAP food stamp office, to Fairbridge Properties at a huge profit from its previous $5M sales price.
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Financier Howard Marks has finally sold his "Versailles in the Sky" condominium at The Ritz-Carlton across from Central Park after a major price cut. The unit, which once was listed for $50M, sold for half that price. The 33rd floor of the luxury building at 50 Central Park South sold to an anonymous buyer, Central Park South 50 LLC. Marks and his wife bought the unit for just over $18M a decade ago, but significantly upgraded it. The price chop is another sign of the softness of New York City's ultra-luxury condo market.
Sales data courtesy of Reonomy.
TOP FINANCING DEAL
Northwood Investors has refinanced the debt on its historic office property at 100 Broadway, across the street from Trinity Church. The investor secured a new, $150M mortgage from MetLife, which will replace a $130M loan previously on the property through the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.
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JPMorgan Chase originated a $120M refinancing package for the 301-unit apartment building at 229 West 60th St. near Lincoln Center. Algin Management Co., co-owned by Laurence and Liane Ginsberg, is listed as the owner of the building, which also has an 8K SF commercial space. The debt consolidates a $115M package from JPMorgan from 2011.
Financing data courtesy of Reonomy.
CORRECTION, SEPT. 27, 9:20 A.M.: Keith Caggiano was one of the brokers who represented the Clinton Foundation, not Ken Meyerson, as a previous version of this story indicated. This story has been updated.
