NEW YORK CITY — San Francisco-based The Swig Company and New York City-based Himmel + Meringoff Properties have created a partnership to acquire the remaining 49.9 percent interest in 1460 Broadway, a 16-story commercial office tower located in Manhattan’s Times Square. The partnership plans to redevelop and reposition the 215,000-square-foot office and retail property located on the corner of 41st Street and Broadway. Once the interest of The Blackstone Group is acquired, The Swig Company will be the majority owner of the property and Himmel + Meringoff will act as operating partners to oversee the redevelopment process. The repositioning of the building is made possible by the vacating of all the office space by next March and the ability to deliver the entire 35,000-square-foot flagship retail space by the end of 2015.
Northeast
WALTHAM, MASS. — Vantage Builders, a general contracting and construction firm based in Waltham, has begun construction on a new worship center for New England Sikh Study Circle (NESSC). Located at 168 Flanders Road, the 21,000-square-foot temple, known as a Gurduara Sahib, will become the principal place of worship for the New England Sikh community. The facility will feature classrooms, meeting places of various sizes, a community kitchen able to serve up to 400 people, a library and residences for the community’s leaders. The project team includes JG Associations, AKAL Engineering Inc., Waterman Design Associates and Rivermoor Engineering. The facility is slated for completion by the first quarter of 2015.
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — In partnership with Brickman, a real estate private equity firm, HK Organization in affiliation with Jo-Ann Obergfell, has purchased 275 Park Avenue located in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn for $68 million. Stratus Capital Advisors represented both the buyer and seller in the transaction. The property, known as The Chocolate Factory, consists of seven contiguous buildings and features 123 loft apartments, ground-floor retail and parking. Amenities include a doorman and roof deck with views of Brooklyn and the Manhattan skyline. Converted in 2002, the building offers different floor plans of versatile lofts. Additionally, the property includes more than 25,000 square feet of retail along Park, Washington, and Waverly Avenues, including the neighborhood's only organic market, and a luxury spa. The Parfitt Brothers designed the original Romanesque Revival building in the late 19th century. It was built for the Von Glahn Brothers, a wholesale grocer that received produce from Wallabout Market. Rockwood & Co. Chocolate soon thereafter purchased the property, which for decades served as a candy factory. After World War II, Rockwood closed, and Sweets Corp. of America purchased the factory until closing permanently in 1967. HK Organization is a Brooklyn-based real estate development firm. Local HK Organization developments …
NEW YORK CITY — Rosewood Realty Group has arranged the sale of 4750 Bedford Avenue, an apartment building located in Brooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay neighborhood. 4750 LLC purchased the 105,440-square-foot building from A4750 LLC for $20 million or 11 times the rent roll. Build in 1964, the eight-story, elevator building features 112 apartments and 24 parking spaces. The new owner plans to invest in building upgrades and increase rent roll. Aaron Jungreis of Rosewood Realty Group represented both the seller and buyer in the transaction.
NEW YORK CITY — TerraCRG has brokered the sale of a mixed-used development site at 608-614 Franklin Avenue in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood. Located on the corner of Franklin Avenue and Dean Street, the approximately 21,929-square-foot site has 141 feet of frontage on Franklin Avenue and 153.7 feet on Dean Street. Additionally, the property was recently zoned to R7A/C2-4, which allows for more than 75,650 buildable square feet or up to 100,875 buildable square feet with the addition of inclusionary housing. Crow Hill Development sold the property for $17.5 million or $231 per buildable square foot. Ofer Cohen, Melissa DiBella, Dan Marks, Peter Matheos, Michael Hernandez and Joseph Terzi of TerraCRG represented negotiated the sale of the property.
AUBURN, N.Y. — First Niagara Financial Group has provided $2.7 million in financing for WST33 LLC/Soules and Dunn Development Group’s Plaza of the Arts complex, which is located at 161 Genessee St. in Auburn. The 20,000-square-foot development offers medical office, retail and restaurant space. Additionally, Grant Avenue Development will relocate and consolidate its headquarters from Roanoke, Va., to the new development. Grant Avenue Development owns and operates more than 40 restaurants on the East Coast, including Arby’s, Domino's Pizza and Tim Horton’s franchises. WST33 LLC broke ground on the $5 million project last year. The Plaza of the Arts is expected to have a total economic impact of $50 million annually.
NEW YORK CITY — The NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission and City of New York Office of Trials and Hearings (OATH) have signed two leases totaling 72,577 square feet at The Falchi Building, which is located at 31-00 47th Ave. in Long Island City. The agencies will occupy the third floor of the five-story, 620,000-square-foot mixed-used building. Mitchell Arkin, Kelli Burke, Greg Smith, Haley Klein and Michael Blanchard of Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord, Jamestown, while both tenants were represented by Michele Freeman and John Morrill of CBRE.
NEW YORK CITY — Eastern Consolidated has brokered the sale of 143-155 Roebling Street, a commercial loft building located in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood. Redsky Capital LLC purchased the former needlework factory from Metroeb Realty 1 LLC for $33.3 million. The six-story, 141,389-square-foot building features 42 fully occupied commercial units, three elevators and a full-building sprinkler system. Additionally, the property features three sides of frontage along Roebling Street, Hope Street and Metropolitan Avenue. Gabriel Saffioti of Eastern Consolidated represented the seller, and, along with Ben Tapper, also of Eastern Consolidated, procured the buyer in the transaction.
NEW YORK CITY — Meadow Partners has acquired Rocket Factory Lofts, an apartment building located at 100 South Fourth St. in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. The seven-story property, which is a converted manufacturing building, features 75 loft apartments in a mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom layouts. Each unit features oversized windows, exposed concrete beams and columns, spacious layouts, 14-foot ceilings and natural hardwood floors. The buyer plans to upgrade the apartments with new kitchens and bathrooms with high-quality finishes, renovate the lobby, and enhance the building entrance and communal roof deck.
WEST HARTFORD, CONN. — HFF has brokered the sale of Boulevard Shops, a shopping center located at 463 Prospect Ave. in West Hartford. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based Lerner Properties purchased the 24,600-square-foot property for $10 million. Situated on 1.82 acres, the property is 93.5 percent occupied by a variety of tenants, including CVS/pharmacy, The UPS Store, H&R Block, Sprint and Santander Bank. HFF’s Boston retail investment sales team marketed the property for the seller, HPE Boulevard LLC, an affiliate of Hirschfield Properties LLC.