NEW YORK CITY — Law firm Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein & Breitstone LLP signed a 5,835-square-foot office lease expansion at 70 E. 55th St. in Midtown Manhattan. The lease term is 10.5 years. The 27-story, 154,000-square-foot building is known as Heron Tower and was originally constructed in 1985. Diana Biasotti, Kristen Morgan and Thomas Swartz of JLL represented the landlord in the lease negotiations. Nicholas Markel of Cresa represented the tenant.
NEW YORK CITY — Canela Media, a provider of Spanish language content, has signed an 8,066-square-foot office lease renewal and expansion at 370 Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. Canela Media has occupied 4,924 square feet at the 26-story building since 2021 and is now taking additional space on the 15th floor. Brett Maslin and Jack Tobin of Adams & Co. represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Gayle Kennedy and Olivia Schrantz of Broad Street Development represented the undisclosed landlord.
NEW YORK CITY — Merchants Capital has provided $225 million in Freddie Mac financing for seven affordable housing properties in The Bronx. The properties comprise 18 buildings and 983 units that carry a range of income restrictions. The borrower is a joint venture between The Arker Cos., SBV RE Investments LLC and Dabar Development Partners. Proceeds will be used to refinance existing debt, rehabilitate units with building-wide improvement plans and preserve affordability. The scope of work includes kitchen upgrades, plumbing improvements and common area maintenance. Completion is slated for September 2025.
NEW YORK CITY — Energy Capital Partners (ECP) has signed a 26,292-square-foot office lease expansion at One World Trade Center, a 3.1 million-square-foot tower in Lower Manhattan. David Falk, Peter Shimkin, Hal Stein, Jason Greenstein and Nathan Kropp of Newmark represented ECP, which is taking an additional 15,400 square feet, in the lease negotiations. Newmark’s Eric Zemachson and Corey Borg, along with internal agents Eric Engelhardt and Karen Rose, represented the landlord, a partnership between The Durst Organization and The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.
NEW YORK CITY — JLL has arranged a $260 million loan for the refinancing of the 1,780-room Sheraton New York Times Square hotel, which is located at 811 Seventh Ave. in Midtown Manhattan. The 50-story hotel features a fitness center, business center, 61,800 square feet of meeting and event space and multiple onsite food and beverage options. Kevin Davis, Mark Fisher and Russell Freed of JLL arranged the four-year, floating-rate loan through funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group. The borrower, a partnership between hospitality owner-operator MCR Hotels and global investment firm Island Capital Group, acquired the hotel in April 2022.
NEW YORK CITY — Steve Cohen, owner of the New York Mets baseball team, will develop Metropolitan Park, an $8 billion sports-anchored entertainment district in Queens. The development will occupy the 50 acres surrounding the team’s ballpark, Citi Field. The land is currently vacant. Plans for the project include a food hall, an entertainment complex including a Hard Rock hotel, live music venue and gaming, 20 acres of open green space, five acres of community athletic fields and playgrounds, new connections to the waterfront, a renovated mass transit station and improved roads, bike paths and parking infrastructure. Hard Rock International will partner with Cohen for the development, and the project team includes SHoP Architects, landscape architect Field Operations and design and construction firm McKissack. Metropolitan Park is expected to create roughly 15,000 permanent and construction jobs, according to Hard Rock. A construction timeline was not disclosed.
NEW YORK CITY — Locally based firm Simone Development Cos. will undertake a 1.8 million-square-foot expansion of Hutchinson Metro Center, a mixed-use development located in the Morris Park neighborhood of The Bronx. Specific plans for the expansion are still being finalized, but the development can support additional life sciences, technology, healthcare and academic space, as well as hospitality, housing and retail uses. Upon completion, Hutchinson Metro Center will consist of more than 4 million square feet across 75 acres.
YONKERS, N.Y. — MediaPro North America, a provider of Spanish programming, in partnership with Great Point Media, has broken ground on a new film and entertainment production studio at 1500 N. Broadway in Yonkers, a northern suburb of New York City. The campus will feature three sound stages totaling 20,000 square feet, as well as post-production facilities and other amenities to support a range of media production and entertainment endeavors. First Citizens Bank provided construction financing for the project. Completion is slated for next fall.
DEER PARK, N.Y. — CBRE has brokered the sale of Sutton Landing at Deer Park, a 200-unit active adult complex on Long Island. The age-restricted property was built in 2021 and offers amenities such as a pool, fitness center, game room, outdoor grilling and dining stations and a leasing office. Aron Will, John Sweeny and Scott Bray of CBRE represented the seller, a partnership between local developer B2K Development and Chicago-based investment firm Harrison Street, in the transaction. Shawn Rosenthal, Jason Gaccione, Jake Salkovitz, Aron Will, Matthew Kuronen and Michael Cregan of CBRE originated Freddie Mac acquisition financing on behalf of the buyer, Fairfield Properties.
YONKERS, N.Y. — Rockabill and BWE have provided a $16.9 million Fannie Mae loan for the refinancing of Monastery Manor, a 147-unit affordable seniors housing property located just north of New York City in Yonkers. Units are designated for persons 62 years and older who earn no more than 50 percent of the area median income (AMI). The borrower, nonprofit owner-operator Finian Sullivan Corp., will use a portion of the proceeds to fund renovations and extend the property’s affordability status. Jim Gillespie and Ilya Weinstein of BWE originated the loan.