This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet
As expected, activity has begun to pick up around New York City as the year draws to a close. Before the commercial real estate industry cools down for the holidays, several major leases, sales and financing deals crossed the finish line last week.
TOP LEASES
Comcast has signed a new 100K SF lease in Manhattan, taking two full floors at Shorenstein Properties' 1407 Broadway office tower in the Garment District. The deal is a new lease, but it is unclear if Comcast is moving operations from another of its many New York offices, or opening up space for growth. Avison Young's Anthony LoPresti, David Fahey and Michael Gottlieb represented the cable giant, which owns NBC/Universal, while CBRE's Peter Turchin, Brett Shannon, Ben Fastenberg, Keith Caggiano and Ross Zimbalist represented Shorenstein in the deal, which was at an asking rent of $65/SF.
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Fosun Group is adding to the list of tenants that have signed leases at its major renovation of One Chase Manhattan Plaza into 28 Liberty. Booking.com, an online travel company, has signed a 53K SF lease to occupy all of the 29th and part of the 28th floor in the Financial District skyscraper. The 10-year deal was signed at a $60/SF asking price, and CBRE's Richard Levine and Zachary Price represented Booking.com. JLL's John Wheeler led the leasing team for the landlord, which lured the online travel agent from a far smaller space at 100 William St.
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Brooklyn might be limping along somewhat in landing major office tenants, but Empire Stores is not suffering the same fate as its borough counterparts. Newell Brands, which owns Rubbermaid and Crock Pot, signed a 47K SF lease last week for the last remaining space at the six-story, 400K SF DUMBO office building. Landlords Midtown Equities, Rockwood Capital and HK Organization were represented by JLL's Howard Hersch, and a CBRE team led by Mary Ann Tighe represented Hoboken, New Jersey-based Newell. Asking rent was $70/SF.
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The company that owns the Knicks, Rangers and Madison Square Garden is opening up a new office close to home. MSG Sports & Entertainment has signed an 11K SF lease for a full floor at 111 West 33rd St., the office building a block away from the Garden. Empire State Realty Trust owns the building, where it maintains it headquarters, and pre-built the floor MSG will occupy, a fast-growing trend for developers looking to lease up small chunks of space quickly. Newmark Knight Frank's Neil Goldmacher and Andrew Sachs represented the tenant, and NKF's Scott Klau, Erik Harris and Neil Rubin represented ESRT along with in-house leasing pro Keith Cody.
TOP SALES
Florida private equity firm Kayne Anderson is the new owner of 21 Clark St., one of the most valuable pieces of the former Jehovah's Witnesses portfolio in Brooklyn Heights. The firm closed on its acquisition of the property last week for $202.5M and plans to immediately spend $100M to convert it to a luxury senior housing facility. The property finally sold after being placed on the market in May 2016.
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Prolific hotel developer Sam Chang has closed on his purchase of Extell Development's Chelsea hotel site for $61M. Chang's McSam Hotel Group had already filed plans to develop a 173K SF hotel at 142 West 24th St. Extell will take in more than triple what it spent to acquire two parcels of land three years ago.
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Extell popped up again in the sell column in New York City commercial sales last week, closing on a $75M sale of a development site near Kips Bay and Murray Hill on Manhattan's East Side. Extell sold the property, which it had already filed plans to redevelop into a 13-story mixed-use building, to China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd., a subsidiary of state-owned China State Construction Engineering Corp.
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One of the biggest property transactions of last week came in the red-hot Bronx, where the Fruchthandler family bought a 196-unit rental complex at 2013 and 2117 Honeywell Ave. for $44.4M. The family, operating as FBE Ltd., bought the complex from Rajmattie Persaud, who paid $23.5M three years ago for the property.
Sales data courtesy of Reonomy.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Aby Rosen's RFR Realty signed Tommy Hilfiger to a landmark lease at its historic 285 Madison Ave. office property in February, and has now secured the property with a $270M loan from Natixis Real Estate Capital. The 26-story, 510K SF building just a few blocks from Grand Central Terminal was vacant when Rosen bought it in 2012 and is now more than 85% leased.
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Michael Stern's JDS Development and Kevin Maloney's Property Markets Group closed on three loans from AIG for their under-construction 111 West 57th St. supertall tower. The three loans combine for $354M, which adds to the significant package of debt already associated with the tower. Stern and Maloney's equity partner in the deal, Richard Bianco, is suing the co-developers, and a mezzanine lender has placed the property under foreclosure. The new debt closed Nov. 3, and it is unclear how it factors into the ongoing legal challenges for the skyscraper, which would rise to 1,400 feet tall when completed.
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Gaw Capital has nailed down the acquisition loan on its purchase of the Standard High Line hotel at 848 Washington St. The luxury property, which straddles the über-popular elevated park, sold for $323M last month, $77M less than the previous owners had paid for it. Gaw secured a $170M acquisition loan from Natixis to complete the deal.
Financing data courtesy of Reonomy.
