NEW YORK CITY — A joint venture between two locally based investment firms, Zar Property NY and HPNY, has acquired a 57,000-square-foot office building located at 26-30 W. 61st St. in Manhattan’s Lincoln Square area. At the time of sale, the property was fully leased to the New York Institute of Technology, which has 24 months remaining on its lease. The seller was The Brodsky Organization. The joint venture purchased the property in an all-cash transaction.
NEW YORK CITY — American Eagle Outfitters Inc. has signed a 338,085-square-foot office lease at 63 Madison Avenue, a 15-story building in Midtown Manhattan. The lease term is 20 years. The space encompasses 108,194 square feet across the entire 7th and 11th floors and the entire 66,597 square feet of one of the tower’s concourse areas. Additionally, a sublease arrangement totaling 162,291 square feet — approximately 54,097 square feet per floor — has been reached with CBS for the 8th, 9th and 10th floors. This sublease agreement will eventually convert into a direct lease. Mitti Liebersohn, David Goldstein, Anna Erickson, Nate Brzozowski and Will Demuth of Savills represented American Eagle in the direct lease and sublease negotiations. Mark Boisi of Cushman & Wakefield represented CBS in the sublease negotiations. Peter Duncan, Matt Coudert and Alex Bermingham represented the landlord, George Comfort & Sons, which owns the building in partnership with Jamestown and Loeb Partners Realty, on an internal basis.
WOODBURY, N.Y. — Simon Property Group is underway on an expansion project at Woodbury Common Premium Outlets, located about 55 miles north of New York City. The project will add 155,000 square feet of new retail and restaurant space, as well as a 200-room hotel, second parking facility and upgraded amenities. A VIP suite with private dressing rooms, a lounge and a private kitchen is also scheduled to open later this year. Simon will also add a new children’s play area, improved crosswalks and wayfinding, and enhanced landscaping to the property, which is home to some 250 tenants.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Locally based financial intermediary Largo Capital has arranged a $6 million bridge loan for a multifamily conversion project in Buffalo. The project will convert a 272,000-square-foot office complex in the downtown area that was formerly known as the Atrium Building into a residential building with an undetermined number of units. Kevin Coscia and Ned Perlman of Largo arranged the debt. The direct lender and borrower were not disclosed.
MAMARONECK, N.Y. — Lee & Associates has brokered the $3.2 million sale of a 2,800-square-foot retail building in Mamaroneck, located north of New York City in Westchester County. The building sits on a half-acre site at 1444 E. Boston Post Road and was previously occupied by People’s United Bank. Peter Braus, Ben Tapper and Cory Gahr of Lee & Associates represented the seller, BFT Holdings LLC, in the transaction, and procured the buyer, an entity doing business as Integrity 1444 BPR LLC.
NEW YORK CITY — New York City-based private equity firm KKR has entered into an agreement to acquire a national portfolio of 19 student housing properties totaling more than 10,000 beds. The names and the locations were not disclosed, but the properties collectively serve 14 four-year public universities across 10 states. Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT) sold the portfolio to KKR after acquiring it in 2018 in a joint venture with South Carolina-based Greystar. University Partners, an affiliate of KKR, will manage the portfolio. TSB Capital Advisors and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as financial advisors to BREIT on the transaction, which is expected to close during the third quarter.
NEW YORK CITY — JLL has brokered the $47 million sale of a multifamily development site located at 45-40 Vernon Blvd. in the Long Island City area of Queens. The site formerly housed the Paragon Paint factory and is approved for approximately 192,000 square feet of development. The seller, a joint venture between Quadrum Global, Baron Property Group and Simon Development, previously retained Morris Adjmi Architects to design a 21-story, 202-unit property. The buyer was locally based investment and development firm ZD Jasper Realty. Brendan Maddigan, Rob Hinckley, Michael Mazzara, Ethan Stanton, Winfield Clifford and Vickram Jambu of JLL brokered the deal.
BOISE, IDAHO, AND CLAY, N.Y. — Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) has signed a preliminary memorandum of terms (PMT) with the Biden Presidential Administration to receive $6.1 billion in funding under the CHIPS and Science Act to support new microchip manufacturing operations. The grants will support Micron’s plans to invest approximately $50 billion in gross capital expenditures for U.S. domestic memory manufacturing through 2030. These grants and additional state and local incentives will support the construction of one manufacturing facility to be co-located with the company’s existing R&D facility in Boise, as well as the construction of two manufacturing facilities in Clay, a suburb of Syracuse. Micron says the facilities are expected to create approximately 75,000 domestic jobs over the next 20-plus years. In Idaho, this includes 2,000 Micron jobs, 4,500 construction jobs and 15,000 indirect jobs. In New York, this includes 9,000 Micron jobs, 4,500 construction jobs and 40,000 indirect jobs. The two projects, as planned, will represent the single largest private investments ever made in the states of Idaho and New York, according to the company.
ATLANTA AND NEW YORK CITY — Private equity giant Blackstone has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire Tropical Smoothie Cafe, a franchiser of fast-casual restaurants, from Levine Leichtman Capital Partners. The deal values the Atlanta-based smoothie chain at around $2 billion, including debt, according to The Wall Street Journal. Tropical Smoothie Cafe began as a single location in Destin, Fla., in 1997. The chain has grown to more than 1,400 locations in 44 states today. The company opened more than 175 locations in 2023, 70 percent of which were opened by existing franchisees. In addition to smoothies, the company sells menu items like sandwiches, salads and bowls. In the first quarter of this year, Tropical Smoothie Cafe completed 64 franchise agreements and opened 39 new stores. Its newest airport location opened at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The launch of new menu items such as Tropic Bowls helped drive overall sales, which were above the industry average in the first quarter, according to the company. “Tropical Smoothie Cafe has had an impressive growth trajectory, consistently building on its loyal customer base as it has scaled nationwide,” says Peter Wallace, a senior managing director in Blackstone’s private equity business. “Blackstone …
YONKERS, N.Y. — Simone Development Cos. will redevelop One Executive Boulevard, a 133,768-square-foot office building in Yonkers, located north of New York City. The redevelopment will position the building to attract healthcare users, and renovations will include upgrades to the lobby, parking area, landscaping, bathrooms, façade and signage. Simone Development acquired the building last fall and subsequently signed SightMD, a provider of ophthalmology services, to a 9,049-square-foot lease.