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AWAY WE GO!

New York
AWAY WE GO!
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The New York office sector is on the rebound. Okay, that’s not exactly breaking news, says Reis analyst Brad Doremus, but new Q1 data released by Reis helps to back up that claim. Effective rents in the New York office market have been on the upswing the past two quarters, rising 1.5% and 1.4% in Q4 ‘10 and Q1 ‘11. These figures are well above the growth in effective rent displayed nationwide, reflecting the strong demand that's been evident in the market. But it's a big hole to climb out of, given the hit that financial services took in the recession, and as the financial sector goes, so goes New York. Between Q2 ‘08 and Q2 ‘10, New York effective rents plummeted 24.9% to $43.66/SF from a high of over $58. In contrast, US effective rents were down 12.1% peak to trough. But the financial sector is on the rebound, bolstering the New York market while other sectors are still languishing.
BIG DEALS!
SL Green and Jeff Sutton formed a JV to purchase 1552 Broadway from The Riese Org, which will continue to operate the TGI Friday’s restaurant at the property at least until the summer of ’12. The transaction, which New York Post’s Lois Weiss pegs at $135M, is expected to close at in Q3 ’11.***200 Park Avenue, New York, NYOppenheimer & Co renewed its 90k SF lease at 200 Park Ave, also known as the MetLife Building. Cushman & Wakefield’s Steven Bauer, along with JLL’s Matthew Astrachan and Mitch Konsker (who started the assignment while at C&W) repped the tenant, while Megan Sheehan repped owner Tishman Speyer in-house.
Sales Transactions United American Land acquired the mortgage and deed to the 70k SF 408 Broadway for $28.7M. It was purchased in two separate transactions—one from lender Capmark Bank, which held the mortgage, and the other from owner Vanick Properties. Cushman & Wakefield’s Nat Rockett repped Capmark, while Newmark Knight Frank’s Justin DiMare repped United American Land. The building will be repositioned and renovated for commercial use under the Laboz brothers.

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Savanna Fund II REIT purchased a senior mortgage loan on 80 Broad St from special servicer JE Robert Cos. Cushman & Wakefield’s Steve Kohn, Helen Hwang, Nat Rockett, Karen Wiedenmann, and Alex Hernandez repped the seller. Swig Equities purchased the building for $70M in ’04, and a senior mortgage loan for $75M was arranged in ’06 after a series of building improvements.

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Helios Capital advised on the $14.1M trade of a non-performing commercial loan collateralized by a three-story, 60k SF urban retail/office asset located in Jersey City’s Journal Square. The firm’s Jonathan Horn worked with Oritani Bank in the sale.

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A private regional developer purchased a 20k SF multi-tenant retail property at 464 Elizabeth Ave in Somerset, NJ for $9M. Tenants include Rite Aid, Dunkin Donuts, and New Millennium Bank. Colliers International’s Ian Schroeder, Maurice Nieman, William Aiello, and George Lulos brokered the transaction.

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Massey Knakal sold an 8,800 SF multifamily building, containing eight apartments and one duplex, at 397 1st St in Park Slope, Brooklyn for $2.6M cash. The firm’s Ken Freeman and Megan Flanagan brokered the deal.

Lease Transactions

Vantage Court at 200 Cottontail Ln in Somerset, NJ saw two deals:Parson Service Co’s 13k SF extension (tenant reps: CBRE’s Carolyn Sica and Kurt Burdack) and Bernafon’s 5,300 SF renewal (tenant rep: ReMax Competitive Edge’s Anthony DiNardi). CBRE’s Geoffrey Schubert and Robert Denney repped owned The Winter Org.

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950 Third Ave saw 17k SF of new leases, which include: Anchor Associates’ 5,400 SF lease (tenant rep: Bloom Real Estate’s Scott Bloom); MKF Realty’s 3,700 SF renewal; TPR Holdings’ 2,800 SF expansion; Aldwych’s 2,700 SF lease (tenant rep: Cushman & Wakefield’s Robert Gastel); and Frankhill Associates’ 2,000 SF lease (tenant rep: CBC Hunter Realty’s Richard Pugatch). Cushman & Wakefield’s Jared Horowitz and Mikael Nahmias repped the owner, an entity controlled by Naomi and Andre Altholz, in all transactions.

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Party City’s ready to celebrate in NYC again, inking a new 15-year, 13k SF lease at the base of 100 W 93rd St, its first new store in the city in over a decade. SRS Real Estate’s Patrick Smith and Matt Ogle repped the tenant, while Newmark Knight Frank’s Amira Yunis and Jared Lack repped owner Starrett Development.

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One Kings Lane inked a 13k SF lease at 205 Hudson St. Williamson Picket Gross’ Peter Gross repped the tenant, while Tom Lynch repped owner Trinity Real Estate in-house.

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152 Madison Ave saw three deals: Beverage Media Group’s new 5,000 SF lease (tenant rep: JRT Realty Group’s John Thompson);Donovan LLP’s seven-year, 3,700 SF lease (tenant rep: IDRE Partners’ Ira Fishman); and Louis August Jonas Foundation’s five-year, 1,300 SF lease (tenant rep: Murray Hill Properties’ Pamela Title). Winoker Realty’s Barry Bernstein and Howard Epstein repped owner Heskel’s Paramount in all three deals.

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East West Bank signed a 7,500 SF lease at 206-208 Canal St. SRS Real Estate’s Matt Ogle repped the tenant, while the landlord was repped in-house.

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Covington Fabric & Design inked a five-year, 7,100 SF lease for showroom and office space at 470 Seventh Ave. Savitt Partners’Marc Schoen and Brian Neugeboren repped the tenant, while Steven Kaufman and Barbara Raskob repped owner The Kaufman Org in-house.

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Princeton Forrestal Village, Princeton, NJ
Urology Group of Princeton signed a long-term, 5,200 SF lease at Princeton Forrestal Village in Princeton, NJ. Lincoln Equities’Daniel Ackerman repped owner IVC PFV, an entity controlled by Lincoln and Investcorp.***I-Behavior signed a 2,700 SF early renewal on its space at 500 Mamaroneck Ave in Harrison, NY. The tenant repped itself and Jeffrey Newman repped owner Malkin Properties in-house.

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Pure Spa inked a long-term, 2,000 SF lease at 207 Ninth Ave. Winick Realty’s Michael Gleicher repped both sides of the transaction.

Financing

Meridian Capital Group placed nearly $74M in mortgage financing, including: $31M for a five-building multifamily and mixed-use portfolio on W 137th St (arranged by Elliot Birnbaum); $13.8M for a six-building multifamily portfolio totaling 434 apartments and 10k SF of commercial space in Brooklyn (arranged by David Hayum); $10.3M on a 113-unit multifamily building on Washington Ave in Brooklyn (arranged by Scott Assouline); and $8.6M for a 51-unit multifamily building on Riverside Dr (arranged by Jacob Nefoussi and Assouline).

Construction & Development

Fordham University broke ground on its 22-story, $250M School of Law and undergraduate residence hall. The new building was designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and will open for the fall ’14 semester. The law school will occupy the lower nine stories, and 430 undergrads will live above. The 468k SF law school would more than double the existing program, and feature 26 classrooms, lecture halls, seminar, and conference rooms. The facility is part of a large $1.6B redevelopment of Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus.***The NYC Economic Development Corp chose Triangle Equities for the $6.2M purchase and development of two sites in Melrose, Bronx. Triangle Equities will construct two new buildings on the sites, which will provide a variety of community amenities, including a new supermarket, school, office space, restaurants, and retail, as well as a 8,000 SF public plaza. The project will cost $35M and create over 200 permanent jobs and 131 construction jobs. Construction is expected to begin in fall ’12.

Business

CresaPartners formed a strategic alliance with Savills, which will allow both firms the ability to provide service to international clients in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Savills has more than 200 offices in 40 countries, and offers specialist advisory, management, and transactional services. CresaPartners has over 55 offices in North America.

Executive Moves

James Nevada joined WSP Flack+Kurtz’s NY office as CFO and EVP. He was previously CFO of W.S. Atkins/Faithful + Gould in Princeton, and also served on the board of directors at Skelly and Loy. He’s a Penn State and Bloomsburg grad.

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Jeffrey Oram joined Colliers International as executive managing director, focusing on investment sales. He’ll be based out of the NJ office. He was previously with Marcus & Millichap, and held a position at CBRE. He’s a Princeton grad.

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Brad Lyons and Steve Vazquez joined Savills as VPs. Brad will arrange debt financing and structure mezz and equity tranches. He was previously with Capital Trust and held positions at New York Life Investment Management, Emmes & Co, and Legg Mason. He’s an NYU and Johns Hopkins grad. Steven will focus on hotel investment sales, financings, and note sales. He was previously with Aberdeen Realty Holdings and Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman. He’s a Cornell grad.

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Scott Aiese joined Massey Knakal as director in the capital services division, representing borrowers in procuring financing in the CRE debt markets for assets located in NYC, particularly Flatiron, Gramercy, Murray Hill, and Union Square neighborhoods. He was previously with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, New Plan Excel, and MortgageIT. He’s a Boston University grad.

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Isaac Glasman joined Massey Knakal as director of retail leasing, focusing on the Flatiron, Gramercy, Union Square, and Chelsea neighborhoods. He was previously founder of Gramercy Auctions, and held positions with City One Real Estate & Financing and Kline Realty. He’s an NYU grad.

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David Muessel joined CPEX Real Estate Services as managing director of office sales. Previously, he spent several years repping clients in various commercial sales and lease transactions throughout Manhattan and Dutchess County. He’s a SUNY Binghamton and Northeastern grad.

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Joshua Roth joined Manhattan Skyline Management Corp as VP of retail leasing, responsible for all retail leasing within the firm’s portfolio of properties. He was previously with ZE Realty Group, and is a Penn State grad.

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Dawn Doherty joined Prudential Douglas Elliman as chief digital officer, charged with identifying sites that will further drive awareness of elliman.com and the company’s client base, as well as developing relationships with tech product and service providers. She was previously with StreetEasy.com.

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Marcus & Millichap promoted John Horowitz to regional manager of the firm’s Brooklyn office. He started with the firm in ’06, and previously worked as a corporate lawyer and ran a non-profit focusing on criminal justice issues. He’s a Tufts and Fordham grad.

Related Topics: Meridian Capital Group, JRT Realty Group, Boston University, MetLife, Rite Aid, Tom Lynch, Helen Hwang, Winoker Realty, FINANCINGMeridian Capital Group, Trinity Real Estate, Swig Equities, Brad Doremus, Big Deals, Barbara Raskob, Lincoln Center, Mitch Konsker, Murray Hill, Scott Assouline, Steven Kaufman, America Merrill Lynch, David Hayum, Legg Mason, CPEX Real Estate, CBC Hunter Realty, 500 Mamaroneck Ave, The New York, New York Post, Jeff Sutton, Party City, Matthew Astrachan, Howard Epstein, Brian Neugeboren, Ken Freeman, Steve Kohn, Michael Gleicher, Lois Weiss, Steven Bauer, Triangle Equities, The Winter Org, Asia Pacific, Journal Square, Nat Rockett, Daniel Ackerman, Barry Bernstein, Jared Lack, John Horowitz, The NYC Economic Development Corp, Alex Hernandez, TGI Friday, Patrick Smith, SRS Real Estate, Jared Horowitz, Capmark Bank, East West Bank, Oritani Bank, Helios Capital, Scott Bloom, John Thompson, Lincoln Equities, Karen Wiedenmann, New York Life Investment Management, The Riese Org, Ira Fishman, Scott Aiese, United American Land, JE Robert Cos, Megan Sheehan, Bloom Real Estate, Williamson Picket Gross, Brad Lyons, Capital Trust, SUNY Binghamton, Carolyn Sica, Elliot Birnbaum, Geoffrey Schubert, Jonathan Horn, Jacob Nefoussi, Jeffrey Oram, Kurt Burdack, Pamela Title, Matt Ogle, Elizabeth Ave, Robert Gastel, Richard Pugatch, Joshua Roth, ZE Realty Group, Justin DiMare, David Muessel, Ian Schroeder, Starrett Development, Sales Transactions United American Land, Megan Flanagan, Cottontail Ln, TPR Holdings, Andre Altholz, One Kings Lane, Princeton Forrestal Village, City One Real Estate, Manhattan Skyline Management Corp, Peter Gross, Dutchess County, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners