NEW YORK CITY — Plaza College has signed a 21,068-square-foot lease expansion and extension at Forest Hills Tower, a 375,000-square-foot office building in Queens. Plaza College first joined the tenant roster in 2013 and currently occupies floors one through three. The new deal also encompasses the entire sixth floor and brings the private college’s total footprint at the building to about 80,000 square feet. Roy Chipkin of CBRE represented Plaza College in the lease negotiations. Muss Development owns Forest Hills Tower.
WESTBURY, N.Y. — Two new entertainment operators — Gatsby’s Board Game Café and I.FLY Trapeze — will open venues at Samanea New York, a 750,000-square-foot entertainment destination on Long Island. Gatsby’s is an interactive experience with a library of more than 400 games that are available to buy and/or play onsite. I.FLY Trapeze offers open-fly sessions, workshops, parties and corporate team-building events. Opening dates were not announced. Lesso Mall Development owns Samanea New York.
NEW YORK CITY — A partnership between two local firms, owner-operator Slate Property Group and real estate private equity firm Avenue Realty Capital, has received a $64 million loan for the refinancing of The Welz, a 162-unit community in the East Williamsburg area of Brooklyn. Designed by Aufgang Architects, the 19-story, newly constructed building offers studio, one- and two-bedroom units. Roughly 30 percent (49) of the residences are reserved for renters earning between 60 and 130 percent of the area median income, and residents also have access to a rooftop deck with grilling stations, a fitness center and package lockers. Daniel Fromm of Newmark arranged the three-year, floating-rate loan through Starwood Capital on behalf of the partnership.
NEW YORK CITY — Fox Horan & Camerini LLP has signed a 19,200-square-foot office lease in Midtown Manhattan. The lease term is 11.5 years. The law firm will occupy the entire 17th floor of 885 Third Avenue, a 34-story, 600,000-square-foot building that recently underwent a capital improvement program. Chris Mongeluzo and Corey Borg of Newmark represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. SL Green owns 885 Third Avenue.
NEW YORK CITY — Rudin has extended an existing $425 million CMBS loan backed by 32 Avenue of the Americas, a 27-story office tower in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood. The New York City-based owner-operator has also announced plans for a $100 million capital improvement program at the 1.2 million-square-foot Art Deco property, which also features a prominent data center/carrier hotel component. Rudin will introduce a prebuilt program of new work environments at 32 Avenue of the Americas that will range in size from 5,000 to 10,000 square feet. The company will also upgrade the building’s lobby and renovate its street-level retail space. Lastly, Rudin will create a new leasing/marketing center spanning the entire 25th floor, which also features two outdoor terraces that offer views of the Manhattan skyline. The tower’s mortgage will now mature in November 2029 should Rudin exercise both of its one-year renewal options in 2027 and 2028. Iron Hound Management Co. advised Rudin, which acquired the property in 1999 from AT&T, on the loan modification. The direct lender was not named. Rudin requested that its loan be transferred to an unnamed special servicer two months ahead of its November maturity in order to begin discussions on the loan modification. …
NEW YORK CITY — A partnership between The Domain Cos., LMXD and Bridge Investment Group Holdings LLC has received a $290 million loan for the refinancing of Jasper, a 499-unit multifamily property located in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens. Wells Fargo provided the loan. Residences at Jasper come in studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans, and the development includes 150 affordable units that are reserved for households earning 130 percent of the area median income. Amenities include multiple outdoor terraces, a rooftop pool, fitness center with a yoga studio, a dog run, multiple landscaped courtyards, a game room, package lockers, outdoor grilling and dining areas, a resident lounge, demonstration kitchen and coworking space. Jasper also features 33,000 square feet of retail space. The property’s multifamily component was 65 percent occupied at the time of the loan closing.
NEW YORK CITY — Summit Properties has purchased 444 Madison Avenue, a 500,000-square-foot office building in Midtown Manhattan. The 42-story building occupies an entire blockfront between East 49th and 50th streets and offers amenities such as a tenant lounge, café, conference center and two landscaped terraces. Tenants include law firm Schwartz, Sladkus, Reich, Greenberg, Atlas, as well as The Doris Duke Foundation, EOS Hospitality and financial services firm Capital Dynamics. The seller and sales price were not disclosed. Summit Properties has tapped JLL as the new leasing agent.
NEW YORK CITY — JLL has arranged the $28 million sale of a 186,584-square-foot commercial property in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn that formerly housed a Century 21 store. The property at 423 88th St. consists of 62,792 square feet of commercial space across three floors and 123,729 square feet of parking across six stories and two roof decks. Jeffrey Julien, Brendan Maddigan and Michael Mazzara of JLL represented the seller, ASG Equities, in the deal. Michael Feratovic of Specialized Realty Group represented the buyer.
NEW YORK CITY — Stark Office Suites will open a 17,300-square-foot flexible workspace facility in Manhattan’s Plaza District. The space spans the 13th and 14th floors of 717 Fifth Avenue, a building that recently underwent a multimillion-dollar capital improvement program. Craig Lemle and Roi Shleifer of Savills represented Stark in the lease negotiations. CBRE represented the undisclosed landlord.
NEW YORK CITY — Stripe has signed a 139,497-square-foot direct office lease expansion in Lower Manhattan. The global financial technical services company now occupies 285,977 square feet of space across eight floors at 28 Liberty Street, where Stripe first took occupancy in summer 2024 via a four-floor sublease. Peter Riguardi, John Wheeler, Mitchell Konsker and Michael Berman of JLL represented the undisclosed landlord in the lease negotiations. Jeff Fischer and Sacha Zarba of CBRE represented Stripe. The deal brings the building’s office component to 96.5 percent occupancy.