NEW YORK CITY — Alchemy Ventures LLC has acquired a nine-building apartment portfolio in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn for $25 million. The buildings contain a total of 81 units. New York City-based law firm Schwartz Sladkus Reich Greenberg Atlas LLP represented Alchemy Ventures in the transaction. The seller was IWC General Partners. Pacific Western Bank provided the acquisition financing.
PORT CHESTER, N.Y. — M&J Wilkow and MetLife Investment Management have acquired Port Chester Shopping Center, a 493,459-square-foot shopping center in Port Chester. The sales price was undisclosed. Whole Foods and Kohl’s anchor the open-air retail center. The rest of the tenant roster includes HomeGoods, Ulta and Old Navy. The seller was not disclosed.
NEW YORK CITY — Madison Realty Capital (MRC) has provided a $14.5 million loan to refinance a mixed-use property in Brooklyn. Located at 1357 Flatbush Ave., the seven-story, 37,133-square-foot, mixed-use building includes 36 apartment units as well as 7,000 square feet of retail space. Madison Realty Capital provided the financing to Hello Living, a developer and repeat MRC borrower. Terms of the financing were not disclosed.
NEW YORK CITY — The New York City condo market will likely take the biggest hit after Amazon announced Thursday that it would not move forward with plans to build a second headquarters in the city, according to one REIT analyst. The online retail giant cited a lack of support from state and local elected officials as its reason for pulling out of a massive headquarters plan in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens. “While polls show that 70 percent of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City,” wrote Amazon in a blog post. Amazon does not intend to reopen the HQ2 search at this time. The company will proceed with its plans for a headquarters in Northern Virginia and operations hub in Nashville. James Sullivan, managing director of equity research for BTIG, says that there are a lot of residential units in the development pipeline in the Long Island City market. “The …
NEW YORK CITY — AIG has provided a $280 million loan to refinance Empire Stores, a newly redeveloped retail and office building in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. The six-story property, which is located at 55 Water St., is comprised of 377,929 square feet of office space and 65,082 square feet of ground-floor retail. Aaron Appel, David Sitt, Jonathan Schwartz, Adam Schwartz, Keith Kurland, Jackson Sastri and Eliott Zeitoune of JLL Capital Markets secured the 15-year loan on behalf of the borrowers, Midtown Equities and HK Organization. Terms of the financing were undisclosed.
NEW YORK CITY — Real estate developer Lightstone has secured a $187 million loan to refinance ARC, a 428-unit luxury rental property in the Dutch Kills section of Long Island City. Located at 30-02 39th Ave., the building offers more than 50,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenities and completed its initial leasing in August 2018. Amenities at the property include a fitness club, yoga studio, outdoor exercise space, basketball court and golf simulator as well as a half-acre private courtyard park, resident lounge, library, club room, game room and gourmet catering kitchen. Citibank provided the financing to Lightstone. Terms of the financing were undisclosed.
NEW YORK CITY — Ariel Property Advisors has arranged the $4.5 million sale of an eight-unit apartment building in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. The four-story building measures 10,200 square feet and is near the Nostrand Avenue subway station, which provides access to the 2, 3 and 5 subway lines. Jonathan Berman and Michael A. Tortorici represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. The buyer was also undisclosed.
NEW YORK CITY — Global coworking provider WeWork has closed on its $850 million purchase of the Lord & Taylor Building, a landmark Midtown Manhattan asset located at 424-434 Fifth Ave. The seller, Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC), is the parent company of Lord & Taylor, which for 104 years had its flagship store on the ground level of the 11-story building. The retailer closed its doors and its famous Fifth Avenue display windows after the 2018 holiday shopping season. HBC and WeWork Property Investors (WPI), WeWork’s real estate division, originally announced the purchase back in October 2017. The final purchase price is consistent with the previously disclosed terms of the transaction. WeWork is in the midst of overhauling the property. The New York-based company is collaborating with architect BIG to restore the Lord & Taylor Building’s display windows on the street level, two-story entrance and its rooftop terrace. WeWork is preserving the basement, first and second floors for retail. “Preserving one of the most iconic buildings in New York City’s history is a monumental opportunity,” says Bjarke Ingels, founding partner at BIG. “Our design will honor Lord & Taylor’s past, building toward the future and ensuring this landmark continues to be …
NEW YORK CITY — HFF has secured a $165 million construction loan for One Boerum Place, a 21-story, mixed-use condominium development in Brooklyn. Located in Brooklyn’s Borough Hall district, the 122-unit project will include a two-story fitness center, entertainment lounge, children’s playroom, landscaped rooftop, 24/7 doorman and concierge service, as well as a fully automated parking garage. The project is slated for completion in the first quarter of 2021. Christopher Peck, Graham Stephens, Peter Rotchford and Alex Staikos of HFF secured the floating-rate construction loan on behalf of One Boerum Development Partners LLC. The lender was a foreign pension fund.
NEW YORK CITY — GFI Realty Services has brokered the $10.4 million sale of two apartment buildings in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. Located at 2031 and 2233 Ocean Ave., the pre-war properties comprise 47 units and a total of 33,040 square feet. Both properties are four-story walk-up buildings. Erik Yankelovich of GFI represented both the buyer and seller in the transaction, both local investors.