NEW YORK CITY — Venture Capital Properties has negotiated a 24,000-square-foot lease at a vacant parcel that formerly housed a warehouse at 5200 1st Ave. in Brooklyn. The tenant, valet parking service Park Pro Systems, will use the property to store its vehicles but will not develop any portion of the site. Jacob Stavsky of Venture Capital Properties represented both Park Pro Systems and landlord John Luhrs in the off-market deal.
NEW YORK CITY — Real estate private equity firm Madison International Realty has signed a 25,000-square-foot office lease at 300 Park Avenue in Manhattan. The company will relocate from a 14,000-square-foot space at 410 Park Avenue in mid-2021. Tishman Speyer owns the 26-story building, which spans 773,056 square feet and was originally built in 1955. Howard Fiddle and Evan Fiddle of CBRE represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Gregory Conen and Samantha Augarten represented Tishman Speyer internally.
WOODBURY, N.Y. — Development and management firm RD Management will open a 1,923-square-foot food hall at Harriman Commons, its 706,230-square-foot retail power center in Woodbury, about 55 miles north of New York City. The food hall will also offer a 3,300-square-foot outdoor dining terrace. Anchor tenants at the center include Walmart, Home Depot and Target. An opening date was not released.
NEW YORK CITY — Real estate advisory and consulting firm SitusAMC Holdings Corp. has acquired the third-party loan servicing and asset management platform of New York City-based Cohen Financial, a division of Truist. Under the terms of the deal, Cohen Financial’s clients and employees will be integrated into SitusAMC. As of August 31, Cohen’s portfolio totaled approximately 6,900 loans with more than $34 billion in unpaid principal balances. SitusAMC will now have a special servicing and asset management portfolio comprised of roughly 10,000 loans totaling more than $130 billion. Truist will retain Cohen’s debt advisory placement platform.
MAHWAH, N.J. — Ascena Retail Group, the parent company of Ann Taylor and Lane Bryant, will sell its plus-size chain Catherines to FullBeauty Brands Operations LLC for $40.8 million, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal. FullBeauty Brands is a New York City-based holding company whose brands include plus-size chains such as Woman Within, Jessica London Inc. and Swimsuits for All. Ascena Retail Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July with plans to close an unspecified but “significant” number of stores.
LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y. — Newmark Knight Frank (NKF) has negotiated the $40 million sale of a 196,000-square-foot industrial development site located at 24-02 Queens Plaza in Long Island City. Brian Ezratty and Scott Ellard of NKF represented the seller, Atlas Capital Group, in the transaction. Bill Harvey, also with NKF, represented the undisclosed buyer, which plans to develop a 270,000-square-foot facility on the site.
NEW YORK CITY — Town Sports International Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CLUB), the parent company of New York Sports Clubs, Boston Sports Clubs and Lucille Roberts gyms, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to reports from multiple new outlets including CNBC and The Wall Street Journal. The company filed its petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Town Sports, which operates about 200 fitness centers throughout the region, said that it does not plan to permanently close the majority of its gyms, which serve about 600,000 members. The fitness chain joins Dallas-based Gold’s Gym and 24 Hour Fitness as the latest operator to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in response to COVID-19, which has forced many such facilities to either close or operate at reduced capacities.
NEW YORK CITY — Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital has provided a $5.6 million Freddie Mac permanent loan for the construction of a 71-unit affordable housing project located at 461 Alabama Ave. in Brooklyn. More than half the residences will be reserved for homeless renters. The financing was structured with a 35-year amortization schedule and a 4.63 percent fixed interest rate. Jim Gillespie and Ilya Weinstein of Bellwether Enterprise originated the loan on behalf of the borrower, a partnership between developer CB Emmanuel Realty and nonprofit Services for the Underserved.
The commercial real estate industry is still managing the COVID-19 pandemic and the heavy toll it has enforced on the national economy. The National Bureau of Economic Research declared in early June the U.S. economy was officially in a recession, less than three months after government-mandated shutdowns began en masse. Jay Olshonsky, president and CEO of New York-based NAI Global, says the sudden economic impact of the pandemic on the commercial real estate industry has already exceeded the global financial crisis. “The immediate magnitude of this is much greater than 2009,” says Olshonsky. “Some economists are predicting this could be 20 times as bad as far as the number of properties that are affected and could potentially go into default. The numbers are pretty staggering.” But Olshonsky is quick to point out that the current situation isn’t a doomsday scenario, nor is it permanent. “It will slowly get back to normal,” says Olshonsky. “There are a multitude of side effects. For every sell there’s a buy, for every loss there’s an opportunity. There will be opportunities that will be created.” Among those are distressed real estate assets, which can take the form of properties in foreclosure or mortgages that are …
WESTBURY, N.Y. — Bloomingdale’s Furniture will open a 25,000-square-foot store at Samanea Mall in Westbury, located on Long Island, in spring 2021. Matthew Kucker and Jordan Baruch of Colliers International represented the landlord in the lease negotiations. Brian Schuster of Ripco Real Estate represented Bloomingdale’s. Samanea Mall originally opened in 1997 and is currently undergoing a multimillion-dollar renovation.