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Remembering Bill Carey; The Deal Sheet

New York
Remembering Bill Carey; The Deal Sheet
Our sincere condolences to the friends, family, and colleagues of W.P. Carey & Co founder Bill Carey, who died yesterday of natural causes at the age of 81 in West Palm Beach, Fla.
WP Carey's Bill Carey
Bill started the company in 1973, primarily to structure single-asset private investments—since then, its holdings have grown to 1,000 commercial and industrial properties totaling 120M SF in North America, Europe, and Asia, as well as $12B in assets under management. Bill was also founder, funder, and chairman of the W.P. Carey Foundation, which he established in 1988 to support educational institutions, with the larger goal of improving America’s competitiveness in the world. He’s survived by brother Francis Carey and numerous nieces and nephews; a public memorial service is being planned in NYC. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the W.P. Carey Foundation, Attn: Juliana Harris, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020.

WP Carey's Bill Carey, Nancy Reagan, and Mayor Bloomberg
Bill with former first lady Nancy Reagan and Mayor Bloomberg. According to a company release, Bill’s interest in business emerged when he sold ink he made in the basement of his family’s Baltimore home. He attended Princeton and the Wharton School, then entered the US Air Force for two years. Afterwards, he worked for his stepfather’s car dealership in NJ, where he learned about lease financing, and then became owner of International Leasing Corp at age 28. The company merged into Hubbard, Westerfelt & Mottelay; he then held positions at Loeb, Rhodes & Co and DuPont Glore Forgan before launching his firm.
BIG DEAL!
A JV between Metro Loft and Eastbridge Sarl snapped up former AIG HQ 70 Pine St, a landmarked building, for more than $200M. The buyers plan to convert the 3M SF into 700 luxury apartments and a high-end hotel, and it’s scheduled to be completed next year. Other Downtown buildings that Metro Loft has developed and now manages include 63 and 67 Wall Street, as well as 20 Exchange Place.
SALES Chesapeake Lodging Trust closed on the $52.2M purchase of the newly developed, 122-room Holiday Inn on West 31st Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues. Real Hospitality Group will manage the hotel.***
50 Orange St, Brooklyn, NY
Massey Knakal sold the 20-unit, 15k SF 50 Orange St, Brooklyn on behalf of The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York for $7.1M cash. The building—which includes 10 studio units and 10 one-bedroom units—was delivered vacant and had undergone a renovation in ’06. The firm’s Bob Knakal and Stephen Palmese exclusively handled the transaction and are marketing two other Brooklyn properties on behalf of The Watchtower: 183 and 161 Columbia Heights for $7.1M and $3.5M respectively.LEASES

inVentiv Health inked a 22k SF extension and expansion at the Milk Studios Building in the Meatpacking District, now taking a total footprint of 75k SF. CBRE’s Paul Meyers and Mike Movshovich repped the tenant, while Newmark Knight Frank’s Michael Dreizen,Jimmy Kuhn, and Brian Waterman repped owner Stellar Management. ***

Consolidated Children’s Apparel signed a seven-year, 24k SF lease at 463 Seventh Ave. Adams & Co’s Joseph Friedman repped the tenant, while Adams’ David Levy repped owner The Arsenal Co.

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American Apparel extended its short-term agreement for 17k SF of retail space at Chelsea Landmark through Jan. 11, two weeks longer than the initial agreement. This is the third pop-up store in the space, which was occupied by Spirit Halloween in September and October and Knoll’s in November. Rose Associates is seeking a long-term retail tenant for the space, which also includes 7,300 SF of lower-level space.

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4 Technology Dr in East Setauket, Long Island, saw two deals: OLCI Realty’s acquisition of a 5,200 SF medical condo unit (buyer rep: Corporate National Realty’s William Yorio) and Stony Brook Children’s Services’ long-term, 7,800 SF lease (tenant rep: Coldwell Banker Commercial Rosner’s Lee Rosner). JLL’s Ray Ruiz,Marianne Dugan, Doug Seale, and Brian Cruz repped building owner Tech 4 in both deals.

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530 Seventh Ave, New York, NY
DL 1961 Denim expanded its lease at 530 Seventh Ave and doubled its footprint to 8,700 SF. Savitt Partners’ Marc Schoen and Michael Schoen repped the tenant, while Savitt’s Bob Savitt repped ownership.***

Christian Louboutin is opening its first US men’s boutique in 1,000 SF at 8 08-10 Washington St. Ripco’s Jeffrey Painser repped the tenant, while RKF’s Karen Bellantoni and Pamela Haber repped owner TF Cornerstone.

FINANCING

Meridian Capital Group arranged over $75M in financing, including:$36M for a 416-unit multifamily building on Broadway in Holbrook, Long Island (arranged by Aaron Appel and Michael Diaz); $13M for a 100-unit multifamily building on East Pulaski Road in Huntington Station, Long Island (arranged by Moshe Majeski and Abe Hirsch);$11.8M for a six-story, mixed-use building on Broadway (arranged by Aaron Birnbaum and Emanuel Westfried); and $11.5M for a mixed-use building on West 51st St (arranged by Max Herzog and Appel).

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GCP Capital Group arranged over $49M in financing, including:$38.5M for a package of six apartment buildings totaling 592 residential units and 10 commercial units throughout Queens(arranged by Paul Greenbaum); $6.3M for a 52-unit, seven-story elevator apartment building with six stores on Amsterdam Avenue(arranged by Adam Brostovski); $3.7M for a 48-unit, six-story elevator apartment building with one store on Audubon Avenue(arranged by Brostovski); and $1.1M for an eight-unit, four-story walkup apartment building on West 85th Street (arranged by Greenbaum).

FUND

Distressed Asset Acquisition Group is establishing a new distressed residential/apartment real estate acquisition fund, focusing on core-plus and value-add properties, as well as short sale and loan-to-own acquisitions. DAAG and several financial partners will invest $50M to $100M cash to acquire these properties across the US this year.

IN THE NEWS

The Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations and SEIU Local 32BJ, the union repping commercial building service workers in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island, reached a tentative labor agreement. Under the pact, over 20,000 union members in more than 1,000 buildings will continue to be the highest-paid commercial building service workers in the country. It’s subject to ratification, and when changed, will last until Dec. 31, 2015.