NEW YORK CITY — Newmark Knight Frank (NKF) has negotiated a 70,728-square-foot office lease for accounting firm Marcum LLP in Midtown Manhattan. The company will relocate its headquarters to 730 Third Avenue, a 665,110-square-foot office building, from its current space at 750 Third Avenue by early 2021. The owner, TIAA, is currently renovating the building with two new lobbies and a 35,000-square-foot amenity space with a food hall, fitness center and conference facility. Ross Perlman and Lee Brodsky of NKF represented Marcum in the lease negotiations. Neil King and Paul Amrich of CBRE represented TIAA.
New York
NEW YORK CITY — Law firm Katsky Korins LLP has extended its 19,871-square-foot office lease at 605 Third Avenue, a 1.1 million-square-foot office building in Midtown Manhattan. Under the terms of the lease extension, the firm will remain in its space through mid-2032. The company has been a tenant of the building since 1988 and occupies the entire 17th floor. Oliver Katcher of Indigo Property Holdings LLC represented Katsy Korins in the lease negotiations. Marc Packman and Clark Briffel represented the landlord, Fisher Brothers, on an internal basis.
NEW YORK CITY — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the $33 million sale of a residential development site in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. The site comprises three former industrial and residential buildings on the same block, located at 118 Hope St., 428 Rodney St. and 426 Rodney St. The buyer, local developer CW Realty, plans to redevelop the property with 100 multifamily units. Said Boukhalfa and Jonathan Codorniu of Marcus & Millichap represented CW Realty in the transaction. The team also represented the sellers, which were private owner-users.
NEW YORK CITY — Greystone, a New York City-based lending and advisory company, has formed a joint venture with Rittenhouse Realty Advisors, a Philadelphia-based advisory group. The joint venture is called Greystone Rittenhouse Realty Advisors, which includes a total of seven sales and debt advisors. The purpose of the joint venture is to provide disposition, refinancing, acquisition and bridge financing to multifamily clients in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions. Jim McDevitt is the president of the joint venture. Ken Weller and Corey Lonberger lead the Rittenhouse Realty Advisors team.
NEW YORK CITY — E4H Architecture, a firm which designs hospitals and other medical health facilities, has signed a 10,156-square-foot office lease expansion for its office in the Garment District of Manhattan. The firm signed a 10-year lease for the entire sixth floor of an office building located at 15 W. 37th St. The firm will move its operations from its original 5,700-square-foot space on the 16th floor of the same building in the second quarter of this year. Norman Bobrow and David Badner of Norman Bobrow & Co. represented E4H in the lease negotiations. Jarad Winter, J.D. Cohen, William Cohen and Steven Levy of Newmark Knight Frank represented the landlord, Kamber Management.
Manhattan has long been one of the most competitive retail markets in the country due to two characteristics of its population: an incredible density and high incomes among residents and workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the average weekly wage of Manhattan’s private sector workforce was $3,153 in the first quarter of 2019, much higher than the national average of $1,184 per week. In addition to its residential base, tourism plays a strong role in Manhattan’s retail sales. Marketing agency NYC & Co. projects that New York City will host 67 million visitors this year, up from approximately 65 million in 2018. While these demographic factors have kept Manhattan’s brick-and-mortar retail market somewhat insulated from e-commerce and other factors affecting the industry, the borough has not been completely shielded from the woes affecting the retail industry. Pocket-sized technology offers immediate access to everything from groceries and apparel to cars and construction materials, forcing brick-and-mortar retailers to get creative with their shopping experiences in order to avoid closing stores. Manhattan remains a top-tier market that commands rents above the national average. But the net result of e-commerce and asking rents that don’t match operating costs is a shift in …
NEW YORK CITY — Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) has unveiled plans to close 125 of its least productive stores over the next three years. The retailer will also close its offices in San Francisco, downtown Cincinnati and Lorain, Ohio, leaving the New York City office as the sole corporate headquarters. The reorganization strategy also includes increasing the Macy’s digital platform, while optimizing its brick-and-mortar portfolio and lowering overhead costs. Beginning this year, Macy’s expects the strategy to generate annual gross savings of approximately $1.5 billion, to be fully realized by year-end 2022. “We will focus our resources on the healthy parts of our business, directly address the unhealthy parts of the business and explore new revenue streams,” says Jeff Gennette, chairman and CEO of Macy’s. “Over the past three years, we have shown we can grow the top line; however, we have significant work to do to improve the bottom line.” The 125 stores that Macy’s plans to close account for approximately $1.4 billion in annual sales and one-fifth of its store footprint. Thirty of the stores are in the process of closure now. Steve Horwitz, a professor in the Miller College of Business at Ball State University in Muncie, …
NEW YORK CITY — HAP Investments LLC has topped out HAP Eight, a 20-story residential property in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. The property comprises two side-by-side towers featuring 112 multifamily units and 87 condominium residences. The two buildings will share amenities, including a fitness facility, pool and parking deck. DXA Studio Architects designed the project, which is slated for completion in early 2021.
NEW YORK CITY — Salad chain Sweetgreen has signed a 3,500-square-foot retail lease at 10 Grand Central, a 35-story office building in Midtown Manhattan. The fast-casual restaurant will occupy the ground-floor retail space at the building fronting 44th Street this summer. Jacqueline Klinger of TSCG represented Sweetgreen in the lease negotiations. Henry Henderson represented the landlord, Marx Realty, on an internal basis.
NEW YORK CITY — Morgan Stanley has provided a $43.8 million loan to refinance a six-property multifamily portfolio in the Bronx. The loan, which Morgan Stanley provided to Timberger East Real Estate, features a fixed rate of 3.74 percent and ten years of full-term, interest-only payments. The properties include 305 total units and are located at 104 W. 190th St., 1055 Grand Concourse, 1354 Commonwealth Ave., 2085 Valentine Ave., 2264 Creston Ave. and 3425 Knox Ave. Bryan Manz, Rob Serra and Emil DePasquale of Black Bear Capital Partners secured the loan.