This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet
This week, a big stake in a Manhattan retail portfolio changed hands, SL Green locked down an anchor tenant for a building it doesn't officially own yet and a Times Square office tower scored a massive loan.
TOP SALES
Vornado is selling nearly half of a prime retail portfolio in Manhattan that values the assets at $5.6B. It announced the sale last week, and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and Crown Acquisitions are the buyers, Bloomberg reports.
Vornado said it is holding on to 51% of the common equity in the portfolio and the sale will create $1.2B of net cash proceeds after deductions. The deal will also result in a roughly $2.6B gain this quarter. The properties include 640 Fifth Ave., 655 Fifth Ave., 666 Fifth Ave., 689 Fifth Ave., 697-703 Fifth Ave., 1535 Broadway and 1540 Broadway.
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Brookland Capital has sold its building at 544 Fourth Ave. in Park Slope for $29.6M, The Real Deal reports. Spruce Capital is the buyer. The building has 40 residential units and three commercial units.
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Highpoint Property Group paid $24.7M to the Amirian Group for two buildings in the East Village. The buildings — both six-story, new condominium developments — are at 436 and 422 East 13th St., The Real Deal reports. Each was sold for $12.37M.
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The family of Norman Seidenfeld and Zelda Mehl sold 151 Kent Ave. for $41.25M, JLL announced. The buyer was DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners, per The Real Deal. The three-story building is between North Fourth and North Fifth streets in Williamsburg. It spans nearly 57K SF and has 46 units. Brendan Maddigan and Ethan Stanton of JLL brokered the deal for the seller.
TOP LEASES
SL Green inked a deal for First Republic Bank to take 212K SF at 460 West 34th St., the Hudson Yards building it hasn't closed on yet. SL Green agreed to buy a majority and controlling interest in the 638K SF building from the Kaufman Organization last year. The deal, which valued the building at $440M, is set to close next month.
The 15-year lease will span the ground and mezzanine floors, according to the release, with two new retail bank branches. The second through sixth floors will serve as corporate offices.
In a separate lease last week, SL Green signed a new lease at its Midtown East building, One Vanderbilt. KPS Capital Partners L.P., a private equity firm, is leasing 28K SF at the under-construction supertall in a 15-year deal.
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MassMutual is taking 46K SF at Vornado’s 90 Park Ave., Crain’s New York Business reports. The asking rents at the building, which Vornado just renovated, are in the mid-$80s.
The lease means MassMutual will be moving from 530 Fifth Ave. Lenox Advisors, a wealth management company that sells MassMutual products, is moving with MassMutual company. It will take 6K SF on the 17th floor.
CBRE brokered the deals for MassMutual and Lenox. Vornado had in-house representation from leasing executives Andrew Ackerman and Ryan Levy.
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Equinox-owned Blink Fitness is opening a 15K SF space in a 15-year deal at 1134 Fulton St. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, owned by Joseph Brunner, Commercial Observer reports. Katz & Associates’ Scott Sher represented the landlord in that deal. Retail Zone's Ezra Saff represents the fitness brand in the outer boroughs. Blink is also taking 18K SF at Laundry Capital’s 5901 Flatland Ave., per CO. Saff represented both sides of the deal in the lease.
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Netflix announced it is plotting a $100M expansion in New York City, that will see the streaming giant creating 127 jobs in the city. As part of the plan announced last week, it is taking 100K SF at Normandy Real Estate Partners’ 888 Broadway in the Flatiron District. It is also taking 161K SF at 333 Johnson Ave. in Bushwick, where it will build six soundstages over five years.
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Foot Locker is taking 25K SF at 605 West 181 St. in Washington Heights, landlord Marx Realty announced last week. The space is for an experiential “Power Store” retail destination, and is set to open this fall. Foot Locker is moving from a nearby space at 621 West 181st St., and the new store location will feature a barbershop, sneaker cleaning and gaming zones, according to a release. Marketing and leasing for the property was managed in-house.
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Jack Resnick & Sons announced 95K SF of leases at its downtown building at 199 Water St. this week. Med Review, which is a subsidiary of the New York County Health Services Organization, is renewing and expanding, signing on for a total of 72K SF on the seventh and 27th floors.
Nonprofit organization iMentor is taking 23K SF on the eighth floor, in a deal that sees the company moving from 30 Broad St. in the fourth quarter. WeWork signed up for 200K SF at the building earlier this year. Jack Resnick & Sons was represented in-house on both deals by Brett Greenberg and Adam Rappaport. Cushman & Wakefield’s John Cefaly, Robert Constable, Ethan Silverstein, Stephen Bellwood and Myles Fennon also represented the landlord.
CBRE’s Mark Ravesloot and Bill Iacovelli brokered the lease for Med Review. Transwestern’s Lindsay Ornstein and Rory Murphy represented iMentor.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
The Durst Organization has locked down a $900M loan from J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo for 4 Times Square, Durst announced last week. The loan comes as $650M CMBS financing provided by UBS in 2006 financing matures, Commercial Observer reports. The loan has a term of less than five years. Earlier this month, Durst announced that Bank of Montreal will be taking 215K SF at the building.
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Signature Bank loaned $63M to FBE Limited for the acquisition of two residential buildings in the Castle Hill area of the Bronx, The Real Deal reports. FBE paid Related Fund Management $88M for the market-rate buildings at 2001-2045 Story Ave. earlier this month. The includes a $20M gap mortgage, per TRD.
