ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Hospitality Real Estate Counselors (HREC), a Denver-based hospitality real estate firm, has arranged the sale of a 77-room Hampton Inn in Rochester, in upstate New York. The hotel is located off the Keeler Street Expressway in the northern Irondequiot suburb. Ketan Patel and Mark von Dwingelo of HREC represented the seller, an undisclosed real estate company, in the transaction. The buyer was a regional hotel owner and operator.
NEW YORK CITY — Savanna, a New York City-based development and investment firm, has purchased 360 Lexington Avenue, a 268,383-square-foot office building in Manhattan, for $180 million. Barclays provided a $126 million loan for the acquisition. Savanna will rebrand the 12-story building and implement a $20 million renovation project that will deliver a new full lobby and entrance, bathrooms, corridors and infrastructure upgrades. Grant Frankel, Philip McKnight and Rob Turner of Eastdil Secured arranged financing through Barclays on behalf of Savanna. Cole Schotz P.C. served as Savanna’s legal counsel in the acquisition of the property.
Retail leasing activity across New York City accelerated during the second quarter of 2019, but the market continues to see vast discrepancies in supply-demand balances across various submarkets. In certain parts of Manhattan, year-over-year asking rents declined by double-digit percentages, according to the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) Spring 2019 Report. Midtown East, for example, saw its average asking rent drop by 22 percent from $3,900 per square foot to $3,050 per square foot during this time period. The corridor between 42nd and 49th streets experienced similar activity, sliding 20 percent from an average asking rent of $1,000 per square foot to $800 per square foot. Historically high vacancy and low absorption rates are behind the negative rent growth. Due to the high cost of doing business in New York, landlords have also struggled to backfill spaces vacated by tenants that were victims of the e-commerce world. As a result, property owners are being forced to bring down their tenant improvement allowances and integrate more flexibility into their leases, primarily in the form of shorter lease terms to stimulate cash flows. Midtown East had approximately 100 vacant retail spaces totaling more than 500,000 square feet at the end …
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. — Newmark Knight Frank (NKF) has brokered the sale of 900 and 990 Stewart Ave., two Class A office buildings totaling 462,000 square feet in Garden City, Long Island. The buildings were 88 percent leased at the time of sale. Kevin Welsh, Brian Schulz, Jason Emrani, Rob Griffin, Steven Schultz, Scott Berfas and Dan Oliver of NKF represented the seller, a joint venture of Boston-based The Davis Companies and New Jersey-based Onyx Equities, in the transaction. The NKF team also procured the buyer, a New York-based investor.
NEW YORK CITY — Joseph Tsai, co-founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, has agreed to purchase Barclays Center, a 670,000-square-foot sports and entertainment arena that sits at the crossroads of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues in Brooklyn. The multi-purpose stadium is the home of the Brooklyn Nets NBA franchise and the NHL’s New York Islanders. Previous owner Mikhail Prokhorov, through his company Oneexim Sports and Entertainment Holding USA Inc., sold the arena to an entity controlled by Tsai for approximately $700 million, according to the New York Post. In a separate deal, Prokorov sold his 51 percent ownership in the Brooklyn Nets to Tsai, who purchased a 49 percent stake in the NBA franchise back in 2018. Multiple media outlets report the combined Nets and Barclays Center transactions will total more than $2 billion, bringing Tsai’s total investment to more than $3 billion. The transaction requires the approval of the NBA Board of Governors. Tsai is set to become the sole governor of the Nets franchise and owner of Barclays Center once the deal closes, which is expected by the end of September. “We are committed to maintaining Barclays Center’s iconic status by bringing together culture, community and entertainment for our …
NEW YORK CITY — Madison Realty Capital, a New York-based lender, has provided an $83 million loan to recapitalize and rebrand a 230-room hotel in Manhattan. The loan proceeds allowed the borrower, Long Island-based McSam Hotel Group, to retire the existing debt on the property and transition the hotel to another brand. The hotel is located across from the Rockefeller Center.
NEWFANE, N.Y. — Contemporary Healthcare Capital has provided a $2.1 million mezzanine loan for the refinancing of a 165-bed seniors housing community in Newfane, a city located about 40 miles north of Buffalo. The borrowers were affiliates of Maximus Healthcare Group. CoastalStates Bank (CSB) provided an accompanying senior loan. The loans will refinance an existing and maturing term loan originally provided by Contemporary and another regional bank for the acquisition of the facility.
NEW YORK CITY — A partnership between New York-based developers F&T Group and SCG America has opened Tangram Tower, an 85,000-square-foot office building within the Tangram mixed-use development in Queens. The building is currently 80 percent sold to medical practitioners and other professionals. Tangram Tower offers access to the 1.2 million-square-foot Tangram development’s two residential towers and hotel, as well as an array of retail and culinary options. Margulies Hoelzli Architecture designed the development.
LONG ISLAND, N.Y. — JLL has brokered the $17 million sale of Hubbard’s Commons, a 65,970-square-foot, grocery-anchored retail center on Long Island. At the time of sale, the property was 98 percent leased to tenants such as Best Market, Rite Aid Pharmacy and Orangetheory Fitness. Jose Cruz, Steve Simonelli, Kevin O’Hearn, Michael Oliver, Andrew Scandalios and Grace Braverman of JLL represented the seller, Urban Edge Properties, in the transaction. ShopOne Centers REIT purchased the asset.
NorthMarq Arranges $7.5M Loan for Refinancing of Seniors Housing Community in Mount Vernon, New York
MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. — NorthMarq has arranged a $7.5 million loan for the refinancing of Lohman Village, a 31-unit seniors housing community in Mount Vernon, a northern suburb of New York City. The loan features a fixed interest rate with a seven-year term on a 30-year amortization schedule. Robert Ranieri of NorthMarq arranged the loan through PCSB Bank. The borrower was New York-based seniors housing owner Wartburg.