Leasing Activity

NEW YORK CITY — New York Life Insurance Co. has signed a 47,000-square-foot office sublease at One World Trade Center in Manhattan. The company is subleasing the entire 39th floor of the 104-story skyscraper for 10 years from Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. One World Trade Center was built in 2013 and offers amenities such as a café, conference center and a sky lounge. Peter Riguardi, Steven Rotter, Joseph Messina, Jessica Berkey, Brett Harvey and Andrew Coe of JLL represented Advance Magazine Publishers in the sublease negotiations. Matthew Astrachan, Nicole Tiger, George Gemelos and Kristen Morgan, also with JLL, represented New York Life. The Port Authority of New York/New Jersey owns the building in partnership with The Durst Organization, whose internal agent Eric Engelhardt also worked on the deal. New York Life plans to relocate from 120 Broadway to the new space in May 2023.

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Aaron Hargrove Walker Dunlop Affordable Housing

With transaction volume for market-rate housing beginning to ebb, affordable housing investment is poised to play a more central role in the months ahead. Several factors have broadened the allure of affordable housing as an investment vehicle in recent years. When the pandemic began taking a toll on market-rate housing performance, investors saw federal, state and even local governments enact measures to help residents at affordable communities maintain their rent payments and help ensure housing remained available for people struggling financially. We saw the interest level in Section 8 properties, for example, increase significantly during the pandemic, due chiefly to federal guarantees backing those rent streams. From a financing perspective, the strong commitment shown by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration to preserve liquidity for affordable housing has bolstered development and investment in the space. Due to the required hold periods, affordable housing investments are less affected by market cycles, so liquidity should remain strong. Now, changing economic forces promise to drive new equity to the affordable sphere and fuel further investment. The Federal Open Market Committee’s resolve to combat record inflation is exerting upward pressure on mortgage rates and, eventually, cap rates, which could discourage sellers …

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NEW YORK CITY — Japanese alcoholic beverage supplier Suntory has signed a 100,000-square-foot office headquarters lease at 11 Madison Avenue in Manhattan. About 150 employees will work in the full-floor space, which includes two bar areas, a tasting room, interactive conference room, a digital art exhibit and flexible workstations. David Kleinhandler, Joe Cybulski, James Whalen and Maura Flanagan of CBRE represented Suntory, which is relocating from Chicago, in the lease negotiations. Zach Freeman, David Kaufman and Neil Kessner represented the landlord, SL Green, on an internal basis.

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First-Logistics-Center-@-283-Elizabethtown

ELIZABETHTOWN, PA. — Chicago-based First Industrial Realty Trust has inked a 1.1 million-square-foot lease with boohoo, an online fashion retailer based in the United Kingdom, at First Logistics Center @ 283 in Elizabethtown, a southeastern suburb of Harrisburg. Jeff Lockard, Paul Torosian, Ryan Barros and Kyle Lockard of JLL represented the landlord  in the lease negotiations. First Industrial has also broken ground on a 700,000-square-foot building at the site that will feature a clear height of 40 feet, 143 loading doors, 194 trailer parking stalls and 318 car parking spaces. Completion of that building is scheduled for the second quarter of 2023.

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VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, MICH. — Our Next Energy (ONE), a Michigan-based energy storage technology company, has unveiled plans to invest $1.6 billion in a new battery cell manufacturing plant in Van Buren Township, about 28 miles southwest of Detroit. The recently constructed facility will be named ONE Circle and is expected to create 2,112 jobs when operating at full capacity by the end of 2027. The 659,589-square-foot facility will produce 200,000 electric vehicle battery packs annually. ONE will begin upgrades and equipment installation at the property in January 2023. Production at the plant is slated to begin in 2024. Ashley Capital owns the property, which is located at 42060 Ecorse Road within the Crossroads Distribution Center.

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NEW YORK CITY — Applause, a Massachusetts-based provider of digital testing and quality control services, has signed a 17,500-square-foot office lease at 355 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan. Chris Foerch of Savills represented the tenant, which plans to take occupancy of the entire seventh floor later this month, in the lease negotiations. Robert Steinman internally represented the landlord, Rudin, which originally developed the 270,000-square-foot building in 1959.

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FRANKLIN, TENN. — Foundry Commercial has arranged a 125,008-square-foot office lease at McEwen Northside, a 45-acre mixed-use campus in Nashville’s Cool Springs submarket. Located in the city of Franklin, the development features 1 million square feet of office space, 113,000 square feet of restaurants and specialty retail, a 150-room hotel, 770 luxury apartment units and green spaces. The tenant, procurement and supply chain management organization OMNIA Partners, will occupy all five floors of office space at the project’s Block A building starting in early 2023. The building also houses 19,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space on the ground level. OMNIA is relocating from its current headquarters, which is also in Franklin. Vince Dunavant of Foundry Commercial represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. The landlord is Boyle Investment Co., co-developer of McEwen Northside alongside Northwood Ravin.

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NORFOLK, VA. — Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer has secured the $20 million sale-leaseback of a 346,000-square-foot distribution facility located at 1129 Production Road in Norfolk. The undisclosed seller leased back a portion of the property, which is situated on a 18.3-acre site within Norfolk Industrial Park. An entity doing business as 1129 Production Road LLC purchased the property as part of a 1031 exchange. Clark Simpson, Erik Conradi, Geoff Poston and Clay Culbreth of Thalhimer represented the buyer in the transaction. Poston is the exclusive leasing representative for the property and is marketing the remaining industrial space for lease. Christina Erman, also with Thalhimer, has been named portfolio manager of the facility.

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DALLAS — Staffing and recruitment agency Phaidon International has signed a 26,687-square-foot office lease at The Centrum in the Oak Lawn area of Dallas. The property houses a courtyard, rooftop deck, tenant lounge, conference center, fitness center and ground-floor retail and restaurant space. Travis Boothe, Robbie Baty and Hannah Henley of Cushman & Wakefield represented Phaidon in the lease negotiations. Addie Ludwig internally represented the landlord, Cawley Partners, which owns the property in partnership with Oak Tree Capital.

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NEW YORK CITY ­— Marketing and technology firm Impact.com has signed an 18,364-square-foot office lease at 136 Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. The 17-story, 300,000-square-foot building houses tenants such as Syracuse University, Regus, Bernhardt Furniture, Wacoal and Green Key. Eric Cagner of Newmark and Alex Leopold of CBRE represented the tenant,  which plans to relocate from the Empire State Building to the entire 10th floor at the end of the year, in the lease negotiations. Mac Roos of Colliers represented the landlord, Williams Equities.

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