NEW YORK CITY — Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT) has arranged the lease of three full floors at 1400 Broadway in Manhattan’s Times Square South. International law firm Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP will occupy the space. The firm currently has more than 40 offices in 20 countries. John Shaunfield, Seth Weinstein and Paul Ippolito of Newmark Knight Frank represented the tenant. Scott Klau, Erik Harris and Neil Rubin of Newmark Knight Frank, along with Keith Cody of ESRT, represented the landlord in the deal.
NEW YORK CITY — Madison International Realty and Forest City Realty Trust have signed definitive agreements for Madison’s acquisition of Forest City’s 51 percent interest in a 2.1 million-square-foot retail portfolio. The transaction is valued at $1 billion. Scattered across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island and Northern New Jersey, the 12-property portfolio is 95 percent leased. Madison plans to engage Cushman & Wakefield as the third-party property management and leasing team for the portfolio. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
Westbeth Artists Housing Breaks Ground on $40M Renovation Project for Manhattan Multifamily Property
NEW YORK CITY — Westbeth Artists Housing, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Community Preservation Corp. has broken ground on a $40 million renovation project for Westbeth Artists Housing, a multifamily property located in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. Located at the former Bell Laboratories campus, the property features 384 affordable homes, as well as commercial spaces, for artists. The $40 million project will repair damages from Hurricane Sandy, including raising boilers above flood level; upgrading cellar windows and critical doorways to prevent flooding; and installing a new emergency generator, submersible domestic water pumps and submersible sump pumps. Additionally, the renovations will preserve the building’s historic status and remove lead paint and asbestos from the basement and outside surfaces. Funding for the project comes from federal Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds, administered by the HPD Multifamily Storm Recovery and Resiliency Program.
MALONE, N.Y. — WinnCompanies has completed the $19.3 million rehabilitation of The Trails at Malone, an affordable housing community in Malone. The project included the modernization of the units’ kitchens, bathrooms, wiring, heating and cooling systems, handicapped accessibility, exteriors, community room, playgrounds, security systems and landscaping. The 128-unit property comprises 26 two-story apartment buildings totaling 116,620 square feet. Of the 128 units, 100 are low-income housing tax credit units for residents earning 60 percent of area median income (AMI) or less. The property features 38 one-bedroom, 65 two-bedroom and 25 three-bedroom units. DiMarco Construction served as general contractor and The Architectural Team provided architectural services for the project. WinnResidential is managing the community.
NEW YORK CITY — Seagis Property Group has purchased three warehouse buildings in South Brooklyn in three separate transactions. The properties are a 22,000-square-foot building at 931 Stanley Ave., a 42,500-square-foot building at 1010 Stanley Ave. and a 70,000-square-foot property at 1970 Pitkin Ave. The three buildings were vacant at the time of acquisition and are immediately available for lease. These transactions add to Seagis’ existing portfolio of 40 properties totaling 750,000 square feet in New York City.
NEW YORK CITY — Stellar Management has refinanced a 13-property portfolio with a $105 million loan package from Capital One. The deal, brokered by GCP Capital Group, includes a five-year term. The portfolio includes properties at 11-15 W. 123rd St., 1061-1071 St. Nicholas Ave., 604 W. 162nd St., 601-609 W. 175th St., 3480-3496 Broadway and 12 E. 32nd St. The refinancing includes more than 600 residential units and as well as commercial and retail space in New York City. Stellar has owned the properties for more than 20 years. Loan proceeds will be used to fund upgrades to the properties, including lobby and elevator cab renovations, amenity space upgrades and landscaping improvements.
NEW YORK CITY — CNY Construction, as general contractor, has topped out 21 East 12th, a 22-story apartment building being developed by William Macklowe Co. and Goldman Sachs. Located in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, the building will feature 51 one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom units, a residents’ lounge, fitness room and garden. Additionally, the property will feature 19,487 square feet of retail space. The project team consists of SLCE Architects and Selldorf Architects. Completion is slated for fourth quarter 2018.
As America’s brick-and-mortar retail sector continues to come to grips with the impact of e-commerce on its long-term future, it is worthwhile to track the progress of the growing number of retailers who have chosen to step away from a web-only platform. These retailers are establishing an omni-channel presence by setting up operations in physical stores, and many are showing signs of success. Many such retailers are choosing to set up shop along the streets of New York City, with its massive and steadily growing population and its broad demographic mix. Despite the recent, well-publicized increase in the city’s available inventory of retail space, New York City remains the preferred market to launch a brand with aspirations of building a meaningful national profile. Considering the more-youthful and trendy profile of a large proportion of online shoppers, these “adding-bricks-to-our-clicks” companies are gravitating toward New York City submarkets that deliver this coveted, younger demographic. Moreover, e-commerce players possess a ton of data profiling their customers — including their buying behavior and their browsing interests and habits — and retailers tap this intelligence when making decisions about where to locate stores as well as how they should be merchandised to best cater to …
MONTGOMERY, N.Y. — GJT REIT has purchased an industrial building located at 201 Neelytown Road in Montgomery for an undisclosed price. Situated on 43 acres, the 248,370-square-foot distribution facility is leased to FedEx Ground on a 10-year term. GTJ REIT now owns 49 properties, totaling approximately 6 million square feet, in the Tri-State area. The name of the seller was not released.
NEW YORK CITY — Savanna has received $100 million in construction financing for an office building development at 106 W. 56th St. in Manhattan. When completed, the 26-story property will feature 90,000 square feet of high-end office space. Designed by Perkins Eastman, the tower is slated for completion in the third quarter of 2018. Kellogg Gaines, Aaron Niedermayer and Douglas Baillie of JLL arranged the financing, which includes a senior construction loan from United Overseas Bank and mezzanine financing from Canyon Partners Real Estate.