NEW YORK CITY — New York University (NYU) has signed a long-term lease for more than 1 million square feet at 770 Broadway in Lower Manhattan. The 1.1 million-square-foot building is adjacent to the university’s campus and is currently home to a number of tenants that occupy about half the space, and NYU plans to assume the existing leases of these users. Grocer Wegman’s will remain a tenant within the building’s retail space. The first stage of NYU’s programming for 770 Broadway will involve the conversion of vacant floors to science and technology uses, including laboratories, classrooms and workstations, as a means of consolidating faculty and research initiatives under a single collaboration hub. Law firm Fried Frank advised NYU on the transaction, which the academic institution estimates will reduce rental expenses by more than $800 million over the first 30 years.
NEW YORK CITY — Alchemy-ABR Investment Partners has topped out a 45-unit apartment building at 288 E. 88th St. on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Designed by Hill West Architects, the 24-story, 350-foot building will ultimately house 45 residences and offer amenities such as a fitness center, a multipurpose sports court, children’s playroom, media/gaming room, coworking space and a rooftop terrace. Leeding Builders Group is serving as the general contractor for the project, which is expected to open to residents next year.
NEW YORK CITY — JLL has negotiated a 20,000-square-foot office lease at 10 Grand Central, a 35-story building in Midtown Manhattan that was originally constructed in the early 1930s. The lease term is 10 years, and the tenant, business advisory firm Riveron, will relocate from 461 Fifth Avenue. Mitchell Konsker, Carlee Palmer, Thomas Swartz and Nicole Danyi of JLL represented the landlord, Marx Realty, in the lease negotiations. Peter Trivelas of Cushman & Wakefield represented Riveron.
NEW YORK CITY — Innovo Property Group (IPG) has topped out Review Avenue Complex, a 736,000-square-foot industrial project in Queens. IPG is developing the facility in partnership with the Urban Investment Group (UIG) at Goldman Sachs Alternatives. Located in New York City’s Borden Innovation District, Review Avenue Complex is situated off of the Long Island Expressway. Completion is scheduled for the fall. Totaling six stories, the development will feature flexible floor plates, with suites starting at 31,000 square feet. Each floor is designed to accommodate up to two tenants, with truck access at each level via a 35-foot-wide ramp. The facility will offer clear heights up to 32 feet, four freight elevators, heavy power and is photovoltaic and electric vehicle ready. Each level will also feature loading docks and parking. In total, the development will accommodate 116 cars and 118 oversized vehicles. In June 2023, IPG received $354 million in financing for the project, including construction financing from Axos Bank and Cerberus Capital Management and equity from Goldman Sachs Asset Management. New York City-based IPG acquires and manages assets in metro New York City. The company recently completed the Borden Complex, a 1 million-square-foot industrial development also located in New …
FARMINGVILLE, N.Y. — BRP Cos. has completed Arboretum at Farmingville, a 292-unit multifamily project on Long Island. The 62-acre site at 20 Maple Lane is located within the Town of Brookhaven and includes a public park with walking trails and picnic areas. The development consists of 82 two-bedroom flats, 82 lofts, 63 two-bedroom townhomes, 14 three-bedroom townhomes and 51 three-bedroom single-family houses, with 30 units reserved for workforce housing. The amenity package comprises a fitness center with a yoga room, pool and cabana area, clubhouse with an entertainment kitchen, courts for tennis, pickleball and bocce ball, a putting green, playground, dog run and a business center with conference rooms. Santander Bank financed construction of the project, which began in summer 2022, and Basis Investment Group was the preferred equity investor. Rents start at $3,495 per month for a two-bedroom, market-rate apartment.
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — CBRE has brokered the $27 million sale of a multifamily development site in White Plains, located north of New York City. The site at 60 S. Broadway spans 3.6 acres on the eastern edge of the downtown area and is approved for the development of two high-rise buildings totaling 814 units. Jeffrey Dunne, Eric Apfel and Travis Langer of CBRE represented the seller, Quarterra Multifamily Communities, in the transaction. The buyer was an affiliate of New York-based investment and development firm Stagg Group. A construction timeline was not disclosed.
NEW YORK CITY — Rose & Rose has signed a 14,067-square-foot office lease at 250 Broadway in Lower Manhattan. The real estate law firm will occupy the entire 30th and 31st floors of the 648,000-square-foot building, which has undergone a host of capital improvements in recent years. Jacob Wolkenfeld of Norman Bobrow & Co. represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Brad Gerla, Michael Rizzo and Alex Benisatto of CBRE, along with internal agent Anne Holker, represented the landlord, AmTrust RE.
NEW YORK CITY — Universal Music Group (UMG) has leased 88,000 square feet at Penn 2, a recently completed office tower in the Penn District campus within Midtown Manhattan. Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO) owns the property. The building will serve as the headquarters of iconic labels Def Jam Recordings, Island Records, Mercury Records and Republic Records, as well as Bravado, UMG’s merchandise company, and Verve Label Group. The property will also serve as the East Coast offices for Universal Music Publishing Group and several UMG corporate functions. UMG’s New York offices have been located at 1755 Broadway since the early 2000s, according to Variety. The global company’s corporate headquarters are in Hilversum, Netherlands. As part of a 22-year lease, UMG will occupy the entire fourth through seventh floors of Penn 2. UMG is also taking a ground-floor space along Seventh Avenue with future plans to debut a retail experience for music fans, as well as a private lobby on 33rd Street that will feature a visitor center and direct elevator access to its floors. UMG will be able to showcase its artists on large-scale LED signage within the Penn District. The new headquarters will be located within The Bustle, …
NEW YORK CITY — A joint venture between Metro Loft Management and David Werner Real Estate Investments (DWREI) has received $720 million in financing for an office-to-residential conversion project in Manhattan. The project will convert the 10-story, 290,000-square-foot office building at 219 E. 42nd St., which formerly served as the global headquarters for pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc., into a multifamily complex. When combined with the adjacent building at 235 E. 42nd St., the development will feature more than 1,600 apartments, 25 percent of which will be reserved as affordable housing, as well as 100,000 square feet of amenity space and 30,000 square feet of retail space. Max Herzog, Marko Kazanjian, Andrew Cohen and Max Hulsh of Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap, arranged the financing through Madison Realty Capital on behalf of the joint venture. Construction is slated for a late 2027 completion. The IPA team also arranged $75 million in bridge financing for the project last fall, with Northwind Group serving as the direct lender on that deal.
NEW YORK CITY — Locally based investment and development firm RFR has sold 522 Fifth Avenue, a 600,000-square-foot office building in Midtown Manhattan. The 23-story building was originally constructed in 1896 and has served as the corporate headquarters facility for both J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley at various points in time. RFR acquired 522 Fifth Avenue from Morgan Stanley for $350 million in 2020 and repositioned the building by acquiring the retail condominium, redeveloping the lobby, enlarging the windows and activating over 17,000 square feet of outdoor space. The undisclosed buyer also plans to occupy the building. No third-party brokers were involved in the sale.