This Week’s N.Y. Deal Sheet: SL Green Snaps Up Park Avenue Office For $130M
SL Green Realty is the proud new owner of a landmarked, 11-story office building at 500 Park Ave.
The real estate investment trust bought the Class-A office building, which spans 201K SF and sits on the corner of 59th Street and Park Avenue, from Morgan Stanley for $130M, according to a release.
The office property, which was built in 1960 as Pepsi-Cola’s headquarters, is now a luxury office and retail space with a tenant roster including Vera Wang, The Georgetown Co. and Friedland Properties. The building is also connected to a residential condo tower.
SL Green plans to reposition the lobby, add new amenities to the building and make improvements to the public plaza. Newmark’s Adam Spies, Doug Harmon, Adam Doneger, Joshua King and Marcella Fasulo advised on the transaction. Bloomberg first reported the deal.
Harrison Sitomer, SL Green’s chief investment officer, described the acquisition in a statement as “an extraordinary addition to our Park Avenue portfolio and a rare opportunity to own an iconic asset that hasn’t traded in more than 40 years.”
Park Avenue office space has been flying off the market at a rapid clip this year as finance tenants seek out space along the prestigious corridor. Availability in the submarket was down to 8% in July — far below the average availability rate of 22% for the rest of the city as tenants like Blackstone, Ares Management, JPMorgan Chase and Citadel sought ways to ensure they had a foothold in the neighborhood.
“Park Avenue is the best performing office market in New York City with historic low vacancy and 500 Park Avenue will continue to benefit from opportunities in this fortress corridor that attracts top tier tenants and triple-digit rents,” Sitomer said.
TOP SALES
Blackstone spent $197.5M acquiring four retail properties in Manhattan in the borough’s largest investor-led retail purchase since 2021, according to a release. Blackstone’s new portfolio, spanning 131K SF, is spread between 61 Crosby St., 72-76 Greene St., 415 W. Broadway and 465 Broadway. The seller was ASB Real Estate Investments. A Fried Frank team that included Steven Rudgayzer, Simon Elkharrat, Jessica Mayes, Joshua Katz, Molly Diamondstein, Melissa Brown and Shakierah Smith advised Blackstone.
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AmTrustRE bought 360 Lexington Ave., a 1959-built office tower stretching up 24 stories near Grand Central station, for $65.5M, according to a release. Savanna, which was the seller of the 268K SF building, according to public documents, had introduced upgrades including a new lobby and elevator improvements in recent years, and new ownership said it intends to add amenity spaces, conference rooms and lounges. The building is 60% occupied, with tenants including Webster Bank and Sisley Paris. A Newmark team of Adam Spies, Adam Doneger, Joshua King and Marcela Fasulo represented both buyer and seller on the deal.
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Japanese urban landscape developer Mori Building Co. bought an 11% stake in One Vanderbilt from SL Green Realty, according to a release. The deal was completed based on a $4.7B valuation for the entire property. SL Green retained a 60% stake in the 1.7M SF office tower. The building is 100% leased and is co-owned by the National Pension Service of Korea, which has a 27.6% stake in the tower, and Hines, which owns the remaining 1.4%.
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Savanna shelled out $255M to acquire 799 Broadway, a 177K SF office building in Lower Manhattan, from a joint venture of Columbia Property Trust and Cannon Hill Capital Partners, Commercial Observer reported. The joint venture developed the building, which is 71% leased and has tenants including Wellington Management and Bain Capital Ventures. The sale price is around 4% less than the $266M of debt that is tied to the building and is also below the $300M it cost to develop it in 2022.
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Thor Equities is in contract to sell its Amazon-leased warehouse at 280 Richards St. in Red Hook for $157M, The Real Deal reported. The buyer is Terreno Realty, but the 312K SF property has garnered interest from overseas investors from the Gulf States, South Korea and Germany since Thor listed the property over the summer. The new buyer can assume the property’s $73M mortgage with a 3.85% interest rate through 2028, TRD reported, citing marketing materials. Thor bought the development site for $40M in 2005 with the aim of building an office complex but later decided on industrial.
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A joint venture of Blake Partners, JAM Real Estate Partners and The Straus Group spent $48M acquiring two office and retail properties known together as Times Square West, according to a release. The two buildings, 303 W. 42nd St. and 300 W. 43rd St., span a combined 144K SF and underwent a full gut renovation last year. Around 128K SF of the total footprint is office space, with retail taking up the remaining 16K SF. Tenants in the retail portion include Chick-fil-A, Smashburger and Dunkin'. The sellers were two shell companies, 303 West 42nd Street Realty LLC and 300 West 43rd Street Property Owner LLC. Gideon Gil and Zachary Kraft of Cushman & Wakefield’s equity, debt and structured finance team advised the buyers on the debt assumption and restructuring.
TOP LEASES
Law firm Ropes & Gray signed a 430K SF deal at RXR Realty’s 1285 Sixth Ave. and could later expand to more than 500K SF. The firm is moving from 1211 Sixth Ave. where it leases 300K SF, Crain’s New York Business reported. The law firm signed a 20-year lease in the 1.8M SF building, aiming for “substantial growth” in NYC. It has more than 500 lawyers in the city, almost double what it had a decade ago, according to a release. RXR modified and extended its loan for 1285 Sixth Ave. last year, paying it down from $1.2B to $980M and pushing the debt maturity back by five years.
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French publicity firm Publicis Groupe is subleasing 98K SF at Rudin’s 1675 Broadway to private equity fund administrator Gen II Fund Services, the New York Business Journal reported. Gen II plans to move its global headquarters to the building, leaving behind its 48K SF space at Cohen Brothers Realty’s 805 Third Ave., per Commercial Observer. John Maher and Gregg Rothkin of CBRE repped Gen II, and CBRE’s William Iacovelli repped Publicis.
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An investment specialist company of Nuveen, asset manager of TIAA, is taking up more space at the Seagram Building, according to a release. Churchill Asset Management has signed for 78K SF at the RFR-owned tower, expanding from 52K SF. The tenant moved into the building in 2022 and is extending the terms of its current lease. Churchill was repped by Scott Vinett of Savills and Chris Joyner of Fischer Corporate Real Estate, while RFR was represented in-house by AJ Camhi and Paul Milunec.
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The Brazilian government signed to renew and expand at the Daily News Building in Midtown Manhattan, according to a release. It has three leases that total 65K SF and are split among three entities across floors 26, 32, 33, 34 and part of the ground floor.
The Federative Republic of Brazil leased 30K SF in the building, while the Brazilian Mission to the United States leased 23K SF and the Brazilian Financial Office leased 12K SF. The lease term is 10 years in the 93% leased, 37-story building whose other tenants include Visiting Nurse Services and the United Nations Development Program. Cushman and Wakefield’s Peter Trivelas and Justin Royce represented the Federative Republic of Brazil in negotiations, while the landlord was repped by Cushman & Wakefield’s Harry Blair, Tara Stacom, Barry Zeller and Pierce Hance. The total footprint is double its previous size, Commercial Observer reported.
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RXR Realty has signed three deals totaling 64K SF at 75 Rockefeller Plaza, according to a release. Law firm Pallas is expanding to 14K SF across the entire 27th floor at $102 per SF after first joining the tenant roster in 2022. NCH Capital signed for 5K SF on the 19th floor for 10 years at the same asking rent as the law firm. Consulting firm Guidehouse signed for 45K SF across the ninth and 10th floors at $80 per SF.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Anthony Lopresti and Connor Daugstrup repped Pallas. The pair also brokered the other side of that deal alongside Bruce Mosler, Ethan Silverstein, Anthony Lopresti, Connor Daugstrup and Bianca Di Mauro. That Cushman team also repped RXR in the deals with NCH Capital and Guidehouse. NCH was repped by Savills’ Jeff Peck, Jacob Stern and Yoni Bettinger, while Cushman’s Mosler and Lopresti also repped Guidehouse. RXR’s Daniel Birney, Walter Rooney and Heidi Steinegger worked alongside the Cushman brokers on the landlord’s behalf on all three deals.
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Global Trading Systems is moving into 35K SF at 625 Sixth Ave. for a 15-year term, the New York Business Journal reported. The deal will see the trading firm relocate from 30K SF at 545 Madison Ave. to the Chelsea office, which is owned by a private company led by Charles and Channa Taub. Asking rents were $85 per SF, with GTS replacing previous tenants eBay and PayPal on the building’s third floor. Norman Bobrow & Co.’s Norman Bobrow and David Badner repped GTS, while RDE Advisors’ Ross Eisenberg repped the landlord.
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RXR Realty signed renewals with two tenants totaling 21K SF at the SMP Building at 37-18 Northern Blvd. in Long Island City, according to a release. Residential construction and professional services company I Grace, which has been a tenant in the building since 2012, is renewing its 13K SF lease for another five years. Luxury luggage manufacturer Rimowa signed for 8K SF, expanding from the 5K SF it previously occupied at a lower level. Both Rimowa and I Grace had in-house representation in the deals, while Andrew Ackerman, Walter Rooney and Heidi Steinegger repped RXR.
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TF Cornerstone signed commerce media company Criteo to a 10-year lease extension for 21K SF at 387 Park Ave. S., according to a release. The 13-story office tower was built in 1920 and renovated in 2015. Newmark’s Mike Morris repped Criteo in the deal. Work-focused members club The Malin also recently opened in the building, offering 20K SF to its members on the building’s fifth floor as of last month.
TOP FINANCING
SL Green scored an extension on its $742.8M loan for 1515 Broadway, according to a release. The deal gives the REIT a new maturity date of March 2028, with the interest rate on the loan staying at 3.93%. The 54-story office tower is fully leased to Viacom and is the home of the Minskoff Theatre. The building is also the site of the REIT’s casino bid, where it and partners Caesars Entertainment and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation are hoping to obtain one of three downstate New York casino licenses that are due to be awarded next year.
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Steiner NYC scored a $148.5M refinance for Admirals Row, a 696K SF mixed-use property that it developed in Brooklyn Navy Yard, according to a release. Deutsche Bank was the bridge lender refinancing the existing debt. The space is home to the city’s first Wegmans supermarket plus other retail space, a community facility, more than 700 parking spaces and over 350K SF of light industrial and creative manufacturing space master-leased to the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. Walker & Dunlop’s Jonathan Schwartz, Aaron Appel, Keith Kurland, Adam Schwartz, Michael Diaz and William Herring repped the borrower.
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JPMorgan Chase loaned $40.6M to art dealer Lawrence Gagosian to refinance a 26K SF Chelsea showroom, PincusCo reported. The mortgage covers 543-545 W. 24th St., with Gagosian personally signing the financing via an entity called 136 Wooster Corp., Crain’s reported based on property records.
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Black Spruce Management netted a $93M refi deal from Goldman Sachs covering a 409-unit residential portfolio spread between Brooklyn and Queens, Commercial Observer reported. The loan covers 383 units at 80-08 135th St. and 81-10 135th St. in the Queens Briarwood neighborhood. Other units involved in the loan are the affordable apartments in Brooklyn at 872 Bergen St., 818 Bergen St., 808 Bergen St., 667 Classon Ave., 663 Classon Ave., 649-651 Classon Ave., 643 Franklin Ave., 634 Classon Ave., 592 Franklin Ave., 515 St. MarksAve., 489 St. Marks Ave., 483 St. Marks Ave. and 1063 Pacific St., per CO. Newmark’s Jordan Roeschlaub oversaw the deal while Nick Scribani and Daniel Fromm arranged it.
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Success Academy Charter Schools received a $150M construction loan for a building at 580 River Ave. in the Bronx’s Concourse neighborhood, PincusCo reported. Build NYC Resource Corp. provided the loan. A 219K SF school building received permits in April to be built on the site, which currently houses a 118K SF industrial building that last changed hands in 2021 for $105M.
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Glenwood Management netted a $209.6M refi from the NYS Housing Finance Agency for its 69-unit rental at 320 W. 38th St. in Garment District, PincusCo reported. The loan replaces a previous sum of $260M from the same lender. The owner acquired the 718K SF property in 2007 for $59.5M and last refinanced 10 years ago. Its new loan has a maturity date of May 2042.
