This Week's NY Deal Sheet (and Other CRE News)
111 Murray St, a 58-story condo tower in Tribeca (rendering below), is getting a $445M shot in the arm from Blacktone's real estate debt unit and lenders M&T Bank and Deutsche Bank.
The borrowers are Fisher Brothers, the Witkoff Group and New Valley LLC. The total cost of the tower is pegged at $820M, per The Wall Street Journal. The JV acquired the site for $223M in 2013 and demolished a building formerly owned by St. John's University to make way for the tower. The KPF-designed tower is scheduled to break ground later this month, and sales have already started.
EXECS
Eastern Consolidated has named Mark Schnurman a principal. Mark doubled the size of Eastern’s leasing team in his previous role as chief sales officer, which he took in 2013. Before joining Eastern, Mark served as EVP and director of business development at GFI Capital Resources.
The US Green Building Council's Rick Fedrizzi will step down as president and CEO at the end of 2016. Rick co-founded USGBC in 1993 and was appointed to the top job in 2003. The organization’s board has set up a search committee to find a replacement. Rick's successor is expected to take over at the end of this year.
Cushman & Wakefield has hired Sean Black as an executive director. Sean comes to C&W from JLL, where he was a managing director. Sean’s accomplishments include repping WeWork in leasing a total of 400k SF at multiple locations in NYC and in DC. He’s also a competitive boxer, with a bronze medal in the Pan American Games among his athletic achievements.
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Common Ground named Vornado CIO Michael Franco as the new chair of its board of directors. Michael’s served on the board for three years. He joined Vornado in 2010 and was previously a managing director at Morgan Stanley.
SALES
Thor Equities is under contract to sell a 300k SF development site at 520 Fifth Ave for $275M. Ceruzzi Properties, a Fairfield County-based real estate investment company, is the buyer. Thor acquired the site in 2011 for $150M. In December, the firm filed with the city an application to build a 71-story retail/residential/hotel tower. The new owners intend to bring that design to fruition, according to Crain’s.
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A 33k SF residential development site at 22-12 Jackson Ave in LIC sold for $43.5M. Eastern Consolidated’s Ronald A. Solarz and Chris Matousek represented both the buyer, Adam America Real Estate, as well as the seller, Diamond Service Corp.
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Mitchell Holdings bought the Herald Square Hotel, a 96-key hotel at 19-21 W 31st St from the Puchall family for $38.5M. Rutenberg Realty NY’s Robert Skinner repped the seller. StarBridge Commercial’s Peter Kim repped the buyer. (He was with Tri-State Hanmi Realty when the deal was negotiated.)
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The Mapleton Group has paid $33M for 2440 Fulton St, a two-story, 110k SF building in Bed-Stuy. The seller was Fulton Center LLC’s Aryeh Good.
BLT closed on a $38.5M buy of 1 Elmcroft Rd, a 550k SF office building near BLT’s Harbor Point mixed-use development in Stamford, CT. The building has been vacant recently. Pitney Bowes was the former owner.
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Madison Realty Capital sold 385 Union Ave, a 40k SF, 47-unit rental building in Williamsburg, for $37.4M. Rosewood Realty Group’s Aaron Jungreis repped both seller and buyer.
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A 15k SF retail condo at 55 Third Ave sold for $24.4M. Cushman & Wakefield’s James Nelson handled the sale alongside C&W's chairman of NY investment sales, Bob Knakal. The seller of the property is Benchmark Real Estate Group.
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157 and 159 East 33rd St in Murray Hill sold for $9M. Friedman-Roth Realty Services’ Eric C. Roth and George Niblock represented the seller. Friedman-Roth’s Lily Ren handled things from the buyer's end.
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286 Clinton Ave, a 19k SF, five-story walk-up rental building in Clinton Hill, sold for $8.2M. Ariel Property Advisors’ Mark Spinelli, Michael A. Tortorici, Shimon Shkury, Victor Sozio, Jonathan Berman and Daniel Tropp handled the sale for both buyer and seller.
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203-205 West 144th St, a 22k SF multifamily building, fetched $7.5M. Ariel Property Advisors’ Victor Sozio, Shimon Shkury, Michael Tortorici and Josh Berkowitz repped the owners.
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309 Amsterdam Ave, a 4k SF mixed-use building on the UWS, sold for $6.65M, or about $1,630/SF. Cushman & Wakefield’s Paul Smadbeck and Robert Stufano repped the seller.
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A development site at 186 Greenpoint Ave in Brooklyn sold for $2.5M. The site could hold about 7,200 SF for residential development. The sale price works out to about $348/SF. Cushman & Wakefield’s Brendan Maddigan handled the sale.
LEASES
TGP Group, which owns DTZ, Cassidy Turley and Cushman & Wakefield, is expanding to 100k SF, from about 80k SF, at 888 Seventh Ave. Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s Neil Goldmacher did the honors for TPG. Jared Solomon repped landlord Vornado in-house.
Ralph Lauren signed a 60k SF lease at the Starrett-Lehigh Building at 601 West 26th St. Savills Studley’s David Goldstein repped Ralph Lauren.
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SoundCloud signed for 44k SF at 50 West 23rd St. Colliers’ Eric Ferriello and Bob Tunis repped SoundCloud. Dan Conlon and Elizabeth Bueno handled things for the landlord, Two Trees, in-house.
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The Gap is taking 31k SF at 1514 Broadway, in a portion of the space formerly occupied by the Toys ‘R’ Us flagship store. Old Navy will take 23,500 SF. RKF’s Ariel Schuster and Justin Fantasia repped Gap Co., the parent company of Old Navy and The Gap. Cushman & Wakefield’s Bradley Mendelson and David Green negotiated for the landlord, Bow Tie Partners, in both leases.
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Boston Properties signed three new leases at its office tower at 250 West 55th St. Watson Farley & Williams is taking 30k SF. CBRE’s Mark Ravesloot, Bill Iacovelli, Michael Wellen and Cara Chayet repped the law firm. Gamut Capital Holdings is taking 7,500 SF. CBRE’s Michael Movshovich and Ben Friedland represented the new fund in that deal. Lion Point Capital signed a lease for 7,400 SF. DTZ’s Jonathan Schindler and Conor Kenny repped the fund in that deal. CBRE’s Peter Turchin, Christie Harle, Sam Seiler and Caroline Merck repped Boston on all three leases.
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Draft Kings signed a five-year deal for 23k SF at 400 Lafayette St. Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s Greg Wang, Joe Perlson and Eric Cagner repped Draft Kings. ABS Partners’ Jay Caseley, Joseph LaRosa and Charles Conwell repped the landlord, Sand Associates.
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Ziff Capital Partners signed an 18k SF lease at 285 Madison Ave. Warburg Realty’s Herbert Chou repped Ziff. JLL’s Alexander Chudnoff, Mitchell Konsker and Dan Turkewitz repped the landlord, RFR, alongside RFR’s A.J. Camhi.
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Bard, Rao + Athanas Consulting Engineers is taking 16.6k SF at 105 Madison Ave. Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s Paul Davidson led the team that handled the transaction.
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RFR director of retail leasing Jordan Claffey signed two new tenants at RFR’s 285 Madison Ave. The Benjamin Group, a restaurant group, signed a 16-year lease for 9k SF, and was repped by ABS’ Dean Valentino. London-based Taylor Street Baristas signed a 1k SF lease, and was repped by the Dartmouth Co’s Fritz Kemerling and Joe Mastromonaco.
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Rivkin Radler is taking 8,200 SF at 555 Madison Ave. Avison Young’s Arthur Mirante, Michael Leff and James Lizmi repped Rivkin Radler. DTZ’s David Hoffman and Whitnee Williams repped the landlord, Shorenstein Realty Services.
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Serafina Restaurant Group is taking 5.4k SF at 113 Reade St in TribeCa. DLL Real Estate’s David Latman repped the tenant. RKF’s David Abrams repped the owner.
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Danish juice bar Joe and the Juice signed a 4,200 SF lease for its first US location at 67 Spring St in SoHo. CBRE’s Amira Yunis and Anthony Stanford repped Joe and the Juice. RKF’s Joshua Strauss and Taryn Talmadge repped the landlord, 71 Spring St LLC.
FINANCING
AIG will serve as the senior lender on a $725M construction loan for JDS Development and PMG’s ultra-luxe tower at 111 West 57th St. The terms of the loan reportedly dictate that JDS and PMG will have to sell 60 ultra-pricey condo units within four years. Apollo Global Management will issue a slightly smaller mezzanine portion of the debt of $325M, with AIG picking up the bigger chunk, sources told The Real Deal. The newly injected capital allows the JV building the megatower to refi an existing $230M loan it has out with Annaly Capital. JLL’s Aaron Appel repped the JV on this round of financing.
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Delancey Street Associates, the JV behind Essex Crossing, the 1.9M SF mixed-use development on the LES, closed on a $250M construction loan on June 30. Wells Fargo and Citibank own the debt, and Wells Fargo’s Duane Mutti and Alan Weiner worked on the deal, according to the Commercial Observer.
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A total of $65M in financing was secured for a 19-story mixed-use rental project to be developed by Slate Property Group at 1 Flatbush Ave in Downtown Brooklyn. Eastern Consolidated’s Adam Hakim and Sam Zabala brokered the financing (a combo of debt and equity), with assistance from James Murad.
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A majority stake in Highline 537, a 47k SF residential building at 537 West 27th St in Chelsea, changed hands for $44.2M. Eastern Consolidated’s Brian Ezratty and Ross Weiner repped the owner, Tavros Holdings. Eastern’s Azita Aghravi repped the investor, the Hakim Organization, and Eastern’s Scott Ellard served as the analyst on the deal.
