NEW YORK CITY — Helmsley Spear LLC has negotiated a 4,100-square-foot retail lease in the Financial District of Manhattan. The 20-year lease includes the ground floor of 83 Maiden Lane and a portion of the basement, which will be converted into a restaurant and brewery called MezCali. Kent Swig, Andrew Simon and Brett Zelner of Helmsley Spear represented the landlord, AHRC NYC, in the lease negotiations. Manu Wendum and Lee Block of Winnick Realty Group represented the tenant.
NEW YORK CITY — Avison Young has negotiated a 3,200-square-foot retail lease in Manhattan for an affiliate of Associated Supermarkets. The space, which was formerly occupied by a Payless ShoeSource, will be converted into a supermarket and includes an additional 800-square-foot basement. The lease term is 15 years. Todd Korren of Avison Young represented the property landlord, Dynamic Broadway Corp., in the lease negotiations. Maria Fernandez of Avison Young represented the tenant.
NEW YORK CITY — Australian restaurant Ruby’s Café has signed a 1,450-square-foot retail lease in Manhattan. The property is Ruby’s Café’s third location in Manhattan, and the company plans to install a garage-door storefront ahead of its opening in fall 2019. Daniyel Cohen of Winick Realty Group represented Ruby’s Café in the lease negotiations. Benjamin Birnbaum and Andrew Taub of Newmark Knight Frank represented the landlord, HUBBNYC.
Driven by activity in the office sector, commercial real estate in Manhattan is having one of its best years on record. The overwhelming demand for Manhattan office space has led to a surge in office-using employment and an accelerated pace of construction. In addition, the success and appeal of the new Hudson Yards project has breathed new life into the borough’s office market, with developers unable to keep up with the demand. The continued expansion in the technology and coworking sectors is reshaping the market. Companies are willing to pay a premium to snag office space that attracts top-tier, tech-savvy talent. This trend has caused office asking rents to rise to record levels. By The Numbers CBRE data shows that average asking rents for Midtown Manhattan office space reached $88 per square foot in the second quarter of 2019, 9.1 percent higher than the previous year. Class A office space commands even more, surpassing the $100 per square foot mark in desirable submarkets like Hudson Yards, Times Square or the Plaza District. The Midtown vacancy rate decreased 10 basis points to 12.2 percent, the lowest in 18 years, according to CBRE, while the past quarter saw 14.7 million square feet …
BAY SHORE, N.Y. — Eagle Rock Apartments has purchased Fairfield Courtyard at Bay Shore, a 232-unit workforce housing property in Bay Shore, a city located on Long Island. The sale included an arrangement in which Eagle Rock swapped its 80-unit Long Island property, The Preserve, with the seller for ownership of Fairfield Courtyard. Jeffrey Dunne, Gene Pride and Eric Apfel of CBRE represented the seller, an affiliate of Fairfield Properties, in the transaction, and also procured Eagle Rock as the buyer.
NEW YORK CITY — Luxury department store retailer Barneys New York has voluntarily filed for bankruptcy protection and has disclosed plans to close 15 of its 22 brick-and-mortar stores. The Chapter 11 filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York indicated that Barneys had more than $100 million in assets and more than $100 million in debts, according to The Wall Street Journal. Barneys plans to keep five of its flagship locations open, including its famous Madison Avenue store. The retailer will also continue operating its downtown Manhattan, Beverly Hills, San Francisco and Boston stores. The company will also keep two Barneys Warehouse locations open in Woodbury, N.Y., and Livermore, Calif., as well as the Barneys.com and BarneysWarehouse.com websites. Barneys will close all other locations, including flagship stores in Chicago, Seattle, Las Vegas, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Santa Monica, Calif. This is the second high-end retail concept to file for bankruptcy this week, the other being luxury movie theater company IPIC Entertainment. Veteran retail consultant Jeff Green says that American shoppers are shying away from uber-luxury retailers like Barneys and IPIC, which saw its same-store sales drop 21.7 percent in first-quarter 2019 compared to …
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — RXR Realty, a New York-based developer, has opened 360 Huguenot, a 280-unit multifamily property in New Rochelle, just north of The Bronx. The property offers studio and two-bedroom apartments, with amenities including an outdoor terrace with green space, conference room and a fitness center. The ground floor of the building features 14,000 square feet of retail space and 10,000 square feet of arts and culture space.
LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y. — Maquette, a New-York based fine art logistics company, has signed a 46,000-square-foot industrial lease in Long Island City. The property, 48-49 35th Street, is a 260,000-square-foot warehouse originally built in 1949. Forrest Mas and Chris Pachios of North River Co., the landlord, negotiated the lease directly with the tenant.
NEW YORK CITY — Meridian Capital Group has arranged $5.7 million in acquisition financing for three multifamily properties in Queens. The three properties are located at 84-47 Lefferts Blvd., 83-35 Lefferts Blvd. and 84-10 120th Street. A balanced sheet lender provided the five-year loan, which features an interest rate of 3.88 percent and two years of interest-only payments followed by a 30-year amortization schedule. Gandolfo DiFiore of MDM Development is the borrower. Aaron Lerman and Sam Shifer of Meridian handled the transaction.
NEW YORK CITY — JAG-ONE Physical Therapy has signed a 3,300-square-foot lease in Staten Island. The property is located in the Amboy Shopping Center at 4343 Amboy Road. David Townes and Alana Freidman of Cushman & Wakefield represented JAG-ONE in the lease negotiations. Howard Seidenfeld of Global Realty Services represented the landlord.