This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet
New York City's office leasing market continued its solid momentum into February as the capital markets sector, while active, is slow as it waits for pending deals to close.
TOP LEASES
The glassy, curvy building the New York Hotel Trades Council and the Hotel Association of New York City built at 620 Fulton St. in Downtown Brooklyn is fully leased almost simultaneously after it opened. Brooklyn Hospital has signed a 70K SF lease for the building, where it will relocate services from the Maynard Building, which it is selling to a developer. Asking rents in the 10-year deal, brokered for both sides by Ingram & Hebron Realty's Robert Hebron, were around $65/SF.
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Pearl Studios, which rents rehearsal space to Broadway shows, is growing in place at 500 Eighth Ave. The company signed a 69K SF lease — 23K SF of which is new space — at the 12-story, 96-year-old, 225K SF office building owned by a partnership led by Walter & Samuels Chairman David Berley. Berley told Commercial Observer that "Waitress," which he produces, will use rehearsal space there. Walter & Samuels' James Gladstone brokered the lease, which had an asking rent of $52/SF.
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Touro College and Long Island Business Institute brought Savitt Partners' 218 West 40th St. to 100% leased with deals for a combined 74K SF. Touro will take 49K SF across four floors of the 166K SF building to use as classroom space. The building is close to One West End, where the college bought a condo for new dormitories. LIBI's lease is for 24,500 SF on two floors. Savitt Partners' Brian Neugeboren, Nicole Goetz and Bob Savitt represented the landlord in-house, and JLL’s Rob Martin and Amanda Bokman and Cushman & Wakefield’s Richard Bernstein represented Touro. Asking rents in the Class-B building are roughly $55/SF.
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Co-working and shared-office space providers kept their leasing momentum going last week. Primary, a wellness-focused co-working provider, signed a deal for its second location in the city, a 31K SF lease at 251 West 30th St. The building is owned by HSP Real Estate Group and Marciano Investment Group, and was represented by Newmark Knight Frank’s William Cohen, Andrew Weisz, J.D. Cohen and Evan Foley. Primary was represented by Cresa's Peter Sabesan and Richard Selig. Convene, a conference and events space provider, signed a 28K SF lease at 75 Rockefeller Center with landlord RXR Realty. And Industrious, the Brooklyn-based co-working company that has locations all over the country, is expanding its Manhattan outpost from 17K SF to 35K SF in SL Green's 215 Park Ave. South.
TOP SALES
While New York City's investment sales market has ramped up since before the new year, transactions are still slow to close, as just one building worth more than $15M traded hands last week: 1920 Amsterdam Ave. The 182-unit residential building, built in 1900 but renovated in 2005, sold for $43M. Metropolitan Realty Group sold the property to a group of investors, including the Podell and Jaffee familes.
Sales data courtesy of Reonomy
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Fosun Property Group has secured short-term financing for its massive renovation project at 28 Liberty St., previously known as One Chase Manhattan Plaza. Deutsche Bank provided the Chinese-owned developer with $89.6M in financing as the developer looks to continue to lease out its major retail and office facelift.
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Phoenix House, a rehab center in Long Island City, has secured a loan for $40M on four properties it owns around Vernon Boulevard and Ninth Street. Silver Point Finance provided the debt, which is broken into two portions, a $25M and a $15M tranche.
Financing data courtesy of Reonomy