This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet
Spring is beginning early in New York City, and as the city thaws, its leasing and investment sales markets continue their stable run.
TOP LEASES
Fashion company Sequential Brands Group is expanding in one of New York City's hottest office markets. The company has signed a deal to grow by 12K SF, increasing its total footprint to 75K SF, in RXR Realty's Starrett-Lehigh Building in Chelsea, Commercial Observer reports. Sequential had once leased 150K SF in the building, which also used to house Tommy Hilfiger's headquarters, but shrank to 63K SF before it started to grow again. Newmark Knight Frank’s Lance Korman and Brian Cohen represented Sequential, and Bill Elder and Denise Rodriguez brokered the deal in-house for RXR.
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Campari America, the company that produces Wild Turkey bourbon and Skyy Vodka, is moving to Midtown from the Bay Area. The U.S. arm of Campari Group signed a 10-year lease in the Grace Building, the Bryant Park-adjacent skyscraper owned by Brookfield and The Swig Co., for 65K SF. The 165 workers will occupy the tower's 18th and 19th floors. Colliers International’s Joseph Cabrera, David Glassman, Tim Kuhn, Brendan Cavender and Steve Maneri represented Campari, while CBRE’s Ken Rapp, Sarah Pontius, Peter Turchin, Zak Snider and Cara Chayet represented the landlord.
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The Feil Organization signed Cornell University to a 70K SF lease at the family business' Lexington Avenue tower. Cornell has committed to take four floors at 570 Lexington Ave. in two separate deals, for the Cornell School of International Labor Relations and for graduate programs for the Weill Cornell Medical School. The school was represented by Mark Weiss and Robert Eisenberg of Cushman & Wakefield, and the Feil Organization was represented in-house by Brian Feil.
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SL Green signed leases for a total of 59K SF at its 461 Fifth Ave. tower, including Everest Reinsurance signing an 11K SF expansion to bring its total footprint in the building to 34K SF. Foros Advisors signed a 14K SF lease extension for the 17th and 18th floors, and Carval Investors and Cyprium Investment Partners signed a combined 11K SF in leases in the building. CBRE's Ben Friedland, Silvio Petriello, Jason Pollen, Zak Snider and Sam Seiler represented SL Green in the transactions, and leasing teams from CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenants.
TOP SALES
Dov Hertz has closed on his acquisition of 640 Columbia St. in Red Hook, the property on which he, along with Goldman Sachs Asset Management, is planning on building a multistory distribution center. The 4-acre site, which the JV is acquiring from 601W Cos., sold for $47.5M. Hertz said the first two levels of the 350K SF building he is planning would have full truck-loading infrastructure, with additional warehouse space on the third floor.
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Normandy Real Estate Partners and Keystone Equities closed on their $39.7M purchase of 25-11 49th Ave. in Long Island City. While Hertz is constructing an industrial building, Normandy is converting one in industrial-heavy Long Island City to an office project. The JV acquired the building from its largest occupant, Candid Litho Printing. The acquisition had gone under contract in 2016.
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HUBB NYC has acquired another New York City retail condo, this time in the base of a co-op building on the Upper West Side. The investor, which bought four condos on the ground floor of 350 West 42nd St. from New York REIT in January, paid $39M to buy the commercial unit of the Nevada Towera co-op building at 2025 Broadway from Nevada Towers Associates.
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The Naftali Group closed on its purchase of 1039 Madison Ave., a small multifamily property that is part of a larger assemblage the investor, led by Miki Naftali, is amassing on the Upper East Side. Naftali bought the property from Buchbinder & Warren for $26M.
Sales data courtesy of Reonomy
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Silverstein Properties has secured a $149M loan from Deutsche Bank for its development site at 514 11th Ave. on the West Side, in direct view of Hudson Yards. The loan will go toward Silverstein's planned 723-foot residential tower on the site that used to be home to a Mercedes-Benz dealership. At one point, Silverstein had planned two skyscrapers that would have reached over 1,000 feet, but the plans have been scaled back. The development would likely require further financing to complete construction.
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Blumenfeld Development Group has secured an $88M refinancing for its office building at 75-20 Astoria Blvd., where several New York City agencies, including the Department of Corrections, have offices. The loan came from a trust for which the New York State Comptroller serves as trustee, according to city property records.
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The Chetrit Group executed a $71M financing deal for 428 Broadway, also known as The Suspenders Building, in SoHo. Chetrit counts WeWork among its tenants at the seven-story office and retail building, for which Loancore Capital Credit REIT provided the loan.
Financing date courtesy of Reonomy
