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.
PHILADELPHIA — A partnership between Alterra IOS, a locally based investment firm specializing in industrial outdoor storage facilities, and Eco Materials has opened a $40 million soil remediation facility in South Philadelphia. The site spans roughly 6 acres at 6110 W. Passyunk Ave. The facility reclaims and repurposes sand, aggregate and construction waste through an advanced wet washing process, ultimately remediating and repurposing more than 85 percent of incoming materials back into the construction ecosystem for future use.
PARAMUS, N.J. — A joint venture partnership between Heidenberg Properties Group, Red Starr Investments, Norse Realty Group and DAG Paramus has purchased Paramus Park South, a 181,150-square-foot shopping center in Northern New Jersey. Anchored by a 100,223-square-foot Stew Leonard’s Supermarket, the center was 67 percent leased at the time of sale. CBRE brokered the sale of the property, the seller of which was not disclosed. Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group structured the joint venture and arranged acquisition financing for the deal.
WYCKOFF, N.J. — City National Bank has provided a $14.5 million loan for the refinancing of a 115,084-square-foot industrial facility located at 500 W. Main St. in the Northern New Jersey community of Wyckoff. Built in 1966, the shallow-bay property features a clear height of 21 feet, six dock doors, nine drive-in doors and 115 parking spaces. Michael Klein, Max Custer and Christian Badalamenti of JLL arranged the five-year, fixed-rate loan on behalf of the borrower, The STRO Cos. At the time of the loan closing, the facility was fully leased to 12 tenants across manufacturing, distribution and service industries.
WETHERSFIELD, CONN. — New Jersey-based financial intermediary Cronheim Mortgage has arranged $6.2 million in financing for a 40,000-square-foot medical office building in Wethersfield, located just south of Hartford. The building at 1210 Silas Deane Highway was developed in 2022 as a build-to-suit for Starling Physicians, Connecticut’s largest physician-led multispecialty medical group. Brandon Szwalbenest, Dev Morris and Andrew Stewart of Cronheim arranged the 25-year loan through an undisclosed local bank. The sponsor is an affiliate of Connecticut-based Phoenix Realty Management.
BOSTON — JLL has arranged a $650 million loan for the refinancing of One Congress, a 43-story, 1 million-square-foot office tower in downtown Boston. Designed by Pelli Clarke & Partners, One Congress was completed in 2023 within Bulfinch Crossing, which is a redevelopment of the former Government Center Garage. The building offers amenities such as a full-floor center with food and beverage service, a 15,000-square-foot rooftop terrace, a 7,000-square-foot fitness center and a triple-height lobby with a coffee bar and seating. Financial services company State Street Corp. (510,000 square feet) and data management services provider InterSystems Corp. (420,000 square feet) are the anchor tenants. Riaz Cassum, Coleman Benedict, Jim Meisel, Mike Shepard and Hugh Doherty of JLL arranged the loan through Bank of America and Wells Fargo on behalf of the borrower, a partnership between Carr Properties and National Real Estate Advisors.
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.
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — CBRE has arranged a 33,843-square-foot office lease at Newport Office Center in Jersey City. The tenant, Berkley Insurance, will occupy a portion of the ninth floor of Newport Office Center III, a 15-story, 620,000-square-foot building. Howard Fiddle, Benjamin Joseph, Greg Barkan and Erin Wenzler of CBRE, along with internal agents Meredith Jackness, Ray Kawas and Tim Johnson, represented the landlord, LeFrak, in the lease negotiations. The tenant representative was not disclosed.