This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet
Despite the holiday — and major players out of town for ICSC RECon — there were still major deals done in New York City over the last week.
TOP SALES
Google acquired the Milk Building at 450 West 15th St., paying a reported $600M, per the Financial Times. Jamestown Properties is the seller. Jamestown sold Google the Chelsea Market building for $2.4B last year, and this new building connects to the market by a skybridge. Google's presence at the Milk Building will span eight floors. Cushman & Wakefield’s Doug Harmon, Adam Spies and Kevin Donner represented the seller. CBRE’s Darcy Stacom brokered the deal for Google.
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Savanna finalized its purchase of 521 Fifth Ave., paying $381M for the 499K SF office and retail building located on the corner of 43rd Street and Fifth Avenue, according to a release from the firm. The sellers were SL Green and Plaza Global Real Estate Partners, which is a venture between Quantum Global Real Estate and LaSalle Investment Management. CBRE’s Bill Shanahan, Darcy Stacom, David Fowler and Doug Middleton brokered the deal on the sale side. Deutsche Bank provided a $242M loan for sale, per Commercial Observer.
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The Safra family paid $95.3M to take full ownership of two Madison Avenue properties from entities tied to Ralph Sitt’s Status Capital, The Real Deal reports. The family paid $75.7M for 711 Madison Ave., using two LLCs, and paid $19.6M for a 28% stake in the building at 715 Madison Ave., in which it already had a majority ownership stake.
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GFP Real Estate paid $89M for the ground lease on 675 Sixth Ave., Commercial Observer reports. The seller is Bally Properties, a company run by Charles Taub and Channa Taub. Aveemer Associates owns the land under the building. Signature Bank provided GFP with a $55.2M mortgage for the purchase. Newmark Knight Frank’s Dustin Stolly, Jordan Roeschlaub, Nick Scribani and Chris Kramer arranged the financing.
TOP LEASES
WeWork is taking space in four Manhattan buildings for its Headquarters by WeWork offering. Three of the deals are with APF Properties and are in the form of a portfolio agreement. At 25 West 45th St., WeWork is taking 23K SF on the second and 15th floors, according to a release, as well as 28K SF at 28 West 44th St. and 31K SF at 183 Madison Ave.
Last year, the firm announced a 28K SF Headquarters by WeWork location at 1156 Sixth Ave., which is also owned by APF Properties. Along with those three new locations, it is also taking 52K SF at The Adler Group’s 550 Seventh Ave. for Headquarters by WeWork. In that building, it will take space on the eighth, ninth, 14th, 21st and 22nd floors.
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Flexible workspace provider Knotel leased almost 18K SF at two Thor Equities buildings on Fifth Avenue, the landlord announced in a release. At 590 Fifth Ave., Knotel took 11,200 SF across two floors, and at 597 Fifth, it leased a 6,400 SF floor. Avison Young’s Arthur Mirante, John Ryan, Patrick Steffens and Dominic Perkovic represented the landlord, while Sitt Ventures’ Robbie Chattah and Aziz Kabbaj brokered the deals for Knotel.
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Stawski Partners’ inked a deal with events and conference manager etc.venues to take 45K SF at 360 Madison Ave., Commercial Observer reports. It is the company’s first deal outside London, per CO, and the space will cover two floors. Taylor Scheinman, Michael Movshovich and Gary Davies of CBRE arranged the deal on behalf of the tenant.
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Ro, a heath startup, leased 38K SF at 696 Sixth Ave., owned by Majestic Rayon Corp., Commercial Observer reports. The deal is for five years and the entire fourth floor. NKF's Jason Greenstein, David Falk and Alex Leopold brokered the deal for the landlord. CBRE’s Ross Zimbalist and Venture Commercial NYC’s Arash Sadighi and Jason Majlessi represented the tenant. Asking rent was $80 per SF, per CO.
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Advertising firm Devito/Verdi is taking 17K SF in Cadillac’s old space at AEW Capital Management-owned 330 Hudson St., Colliers, the broker on the deal, announced in a release. Devito/Verdi is leasing the 16th floor space of the 467K SF building for its new headquarters and will move into the space June 3. Cadillac took the space in the building in 2014, but General Motors announced it was moving back to Detroit last year. Colliers’ Jessica Verdi represented the tenant, and Zachary Price and John Nugent from CBRE brokered the deal for the sublandlord.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
4 Capital Partners provided HAP Investments a $94M construction loan for its condominium project in Tribeca, The Real Deal rKeports. HAP can now move forward with its development at 65 Franklin St., where it wants to build a 41-unit building. In addition, Quinlan Development provided a $13.5M mezzanine loan, per TRD.
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Glenwood locked down a $102M loan from Prudential Multifamily Mortgage — backed by Fannie Mae — to refinance its rental building at 1385 York Ave., The Real Deal reports. The building has 490 units and is 37 stories tall.
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Madison Realty Capital loaned $50M for Abraham Branch’s condo project in the Brooklyn Triangle, the company announced last week. The development project is at 58 and 66 Gerry St., with an existing office building and additional development site at 25 and 33 Bartlett St. The condo building is nearly complete, and the financing will be used to finish the construction and retire existing debts.
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KKR Real Estate Finance Trust provided $386M loan to Eliot Spitzer’s Spitzer Enterprises to refinance 420 Kent Ave., Commercial Observer reports. The rental development on the waterfront in South Williamsburg is on a 2.8-acre site and features 857 units and 20K SF of retail space, according to StreetEasy. Starwood Capital provided $330M on the project back in 2016.
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M&T Bank loaned $73M to TF Cornerstone for its Pacific Park multifamily project, Commercial Observer reports. The loan will allow the company to start construction on the project, where it plans to build 800 units on two sites. The company paid Greenland and Forest City New York $143.1M for the parcels, at 615 and 595 Dean St., back in February. Last year, TF Cornerstone and Brodsky Organization announced they were teaming up to buy three sites from the Greenland-Forest City joint venture. Brodsky's site is at 644 Pacific St.
