Burlington Expands To 200K SF: The N.Y. Deal Sheet
Discount retailer Burlington Stores didn't shop far when it needed more Manhattan office space.
Burlington signed a renewal and expansion lease at Empire State Realty Trust’s 1400 Broadway. It added 36K SF to its footprint and now occupies 206K SF in the 37-floor tower, according to a January market report from Colliers.
The deal was the third-biggest in Manhattan last month, after Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s 362K SF lease at 200 Park Ave. and Starr’s 274K SF, $1.3B lease at 343 Madison Ave.
Colliers’ Alan Desino represented Burlington in the expansion, Commercial Observer reported. The retailer signed its first lease at the skyscraper in 2010 for 35K SF and has expanded by around that amount every two years since. It last expanded in February 2024 to 171K SF.
Other tenants in the building include business loan provider OnDeck Capital and Flagstar Bank.
TOP LEASES
Zeta Charter Schools signed a 35K SF, two-year lease at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church at 517 W. 164th St. for the organization's first charter high school. Open Impact Real Estate’s Lindsay Ornstein and Alexander Smith represented Zeta, while the building owner, the Archdiocese of New York, didn't work with an outside broker.
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Cigna is moving its office with Sovereign Partners’ 2 Grand Central Tower, Commercial Observer reported. The insurance provider is moving from the bottom of the 44-story, 667K SF tower to 33K SF across two floors, although it’s unclear if its footprint is changing. Sovereign Partners bought the building at 140 E. 45th St. from Rockwood Capital last year for $273M.
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T.J. Maxx signed the biggest retail lease over the past year at JEMB Realty’s 50 W. 34th St., the New York Post reported. The discount retailer’s 40K SF lease at Herald Towers is its first in the city in a decade and brings the 110K SF property to 95% leased. Its neighbors include Old Navy’s new 55K SF store, which relocated to JEMB’s property in May. Ripco Real Estate’s Richard Skulnik represented T.J. Maxx.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Witkoff Group and Access Real Estate scored a $525M loan for One High Line. Ares Management Corp. and JPMorgan Chase led a group of institutional lenders in the financing of the 236-unit, twisting condo development at 500 W. 18th St. The new debt will help owners Witkoff, Access Group and Monroe Group with the sale process for the 54 remaining condos, Bloomberg reported. A Walker & Dunlop Capital Markets Institutional Advisory team led by Aaron Appel, Jonathan Schwartz, Adam Schwartz, Keith Kurland, Dustin Stolly and Sean Reimer brokered the deal. Witkoff and Len Blavatnik's Access took over the project, formerly known as The XI, out of foreclosure in 2021. The new owners took out $1.2B in loans for the towers in 2024, also from lenders led by JPMorgan.
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Legion Investment Group and EJS Group landed $191.1M in financing for 11 W. 13th St., where it plans to open a 34-unit condo development next year, Crain’s New York Business reported. The financing included a $140.1M senior mortgage from Bank OZK and a $50M mezzanine loan from CanAm Enterprises, which raises funds through the EB-5 program. Ownership paid $57.5M for the property in May 2024, financing that deal with a $37.5M note from Maxim Credit Group.
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Namdar Realty Group, Empire Capital Holdings and Mason Asset Management refinanced two office properties, 529 Fifth Ave. and 587 Fifth Ave., with a $172.4M loan from Reznik Paz Nevo Trusts, PincusCo reported. The financing replaces a $111.2M loan from the same lender, which is an Israeli manager of trust investments.
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The Elad Group refinanced a NoMad office building at 419 Park Avenue S. with a $146.1M sum from Deutsche Bank, PincusCo reported. The project is slated for a 111-unit residential conversion, although permits have not yet been approved. The debt replaces a prior $57.5M sum from Lawland Properties. Elad purchased the 200K SF office building, formerly leased to WeWork, for $72M in 2024.
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Haven Capital netted a new $160M CMBS loan for a residential and office portfolio with properties in New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and Missouri, Commercial Observer reported. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley originated the financing for the portfolio, which has almost 900 residential units and 955K SF of office space including 276 Grand Concourse and 224-228 E. 135th St. in the Bronx and 600 North Ave. in New Rochelle.
TOP SALES
Extell Development bought the Metropolitan Club’s air rights at 1 E. 60th St. for $39.9M, PincusCo reported. The deal transfers the air rights to Extell’s 655 Madison Ave. development, where Gary Barnett’s firm is tearing down a 200K SF office building to make way for a supertall mixed-use tower anchored by a Chanel flagship store. Extell landed $1.1B in construction financing in December for the project, Commercial Observer reported.
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Madison Realty Capital sold 159 Broadway to Joyland Management for $30M, Commercial Observer reported. MRC was previously the senior lender to developer Cornell Realty, providing roughly $28M for a planned 26-story, 235-key hotel and condo building. Madison Realty filed to foreclose in 2020 and ended up buying the site for $32M via a 2022 bankruptcy sale.
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Carlyle Group sold more than a dozen New York City self-storage facilities to Manhattan Mini Storage’s parent company, StorageMart, according to a release. The 1.3M SF portfolio contains almost 25,500 units across 51 properties. The sale price was $1B, according to Traded. Carlyle had recently recapitalized the portfolio after amassing it across the city in recent years.
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Turkey’s second-largest bank, VakifBank, bought an office condominium at 420 Fifth Ave. from Witkoff Group for $16.5M, PincusCo reported. Witkoff Group has owned the property since 2006, when it bought it as part of a four-condo package for $61.8M.
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The Dermot Co. and Rockwood Capital sold a 132-unit rental building at 250 E. Houston St. to Atlas Capital Group for $112.2M, PincusCo reported. JLL's Rob Hinckley and Jeff Julien brokered the deal for the 13-story East Village building, which was formerly known as the "Red Square" and featured an 18-foot statue of Vladimir Lenin.
