NYC Pension Fund Takes 78K SF At 55 Water: The N.Y. Deal Sheet
Manhattan’s largest office building has signed a deal with the city’s smallest pension fund.
The New York City Board of Education Retirement System signed for 78K SF at 55 Water St., a 3.5M SF office complex in the Financial District, according to a release.
The property is owned by New Water Street Corp., a subsidiary of pension fund Retirement Systems of Alabama.
BERS, which manages $9B in member assets, was previously a subtenant on the 50th floor. It will now occupy that space in a direct lease, along with a ground-floor retail space.
CBRE’s Howard Fiddle, Bradley Gerla, Evan Haskell and William Hooks represented building ownership, while Savills’ Marc Shapses represented BERS.
BERS' lease is the latest sizable deal in the 53-story tower signed in the past year, The Real Deal reported.
GFI Group expanded its footprint in the building to 129K SF, while telecommunications company MetTel and engineering consultancy Jaros, Baum & Bolles signed 69K SF and 68K SF leases, respectively.
The skyscraper is now 84.3% leased, Crain’s New York Business reported, citing CoStar data.
TOP LEASES
ProMedia Global inked a 28K SF lease with landlord Jack Resnick & Sons’ 250 Hudson St. The production and media infrastructure firm will occupy a full floor in the 394K SF building for 15 years, expanding from its facilities in New Jersey. Brett Greenberg and Adam Rappoport represented the landlord in-house. Bradford Allen’s Gordon Ogden and Ava Beganovic represented ProMedia Global.
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Tech agency Tenex Labs signed a 25K SF lease spanning the entire 12th floor and penthouse at The Moinian Group’s 13-story 60 Madison Ave. in NoMad. CBRE’s Gregg Rothkin, Hayden Pascal, Jared London, Taylor Walker and Keegan Schenk represented the landlord, while Newmark’s Noel Flagg and E.N. Cutler represented the tenant.
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Digital Asset has returned to Silverstein Properties’ 4 World Trade Center with a 19K SF lease, Commercial Observer reported. The fintech firm had occupied space in the 2.3M SF, 72-story tower from 2018 to March 2025, when it moved to 107 Greenwich St. Asking rents in the new lease were $115 per SF. Savills' Slava Vaynberg and Kirill Azovtsev represented Digital Asset. Harlan Strader and Keith Cody represented Silverstein Properties in-house.
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Law firm Fenwick & West renewed its lease and expanded by 18K SF at the Rosen family’s 902 Broadway, bringing its total footprint to 73K SF, Commercial Observer reported. Asking rents for the 11-year extension in the 20-story Flatiron District building were $84 per SF. Koeppel Rosen’s Max Koeppel represented the landlord. CBRE’s David Kleinhandler and Ken Rapp represented the tenant.
TOP SALES
Hawkins Way Capital closed on its second NYC acquisition in two weeks, acquiring 81 E. Third St. in the East Village for $28M from an entity linked to landlord Simon Fouladian and local developer and landlord the Lokshin family, Commercial Observer reported. Roughly two-thirds of the 13-story building is used as a dorm for the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. The remaining third is market-rate apartments. BKREA‘s Bob Knakal and Ana Barrie brokered the deal.
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Nalcorp acquired a 29K SF Mott Haven development site capable of yielding a 173K SF development from Altmark Group for $21.7M. The new owner is planning at least one new multifamily building on the site at 122 Bruckner Blvd., according to the release. A JLL team led by Brendan Maddigan, Ethan Stanton and Mike Mazzara arranged the sale.
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An entity linked to Brooklyn-based kosher grocer Bingo Wholesale has acquired three Bedford-Stuyvesant properties for $50M, PincusCo reported. The seller of the three buildings — a first-floor condo of an industrial building at 18 Warsoff Place, an industrial building at 39 Walworth St., and another building on the same street without an address — was an entity tied to Abraham Follman and Mordechei Zvi Follman. Official plans have not yet been disclosed, but Commercial Observer reported that the site is expected to become Bingo’s fifth supermarket location.
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TA Realty acquired a Staten Island shopping center from The Bregman Organization for $79.2M, PincusCo reported. Principal Life Insurance provided TA Realty with a $41.5M loan to finance the sale of the New Dorp Beach property at 2712 Hylan Blvd. and 2754 Hylan Blvd. The center is 97% occupied and anchored by Stop & Shop and HomeGoods, according to Levin Management, which will manage and lease the property following the sale, according to a statement.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Delshah Capital borrowed $60.5M from Prospect Ridge Advisors to acquire a two-property Williamsburg multifamily portfolio totaling 93 units. The properties, 227 Grand St. and 456 Grand St., are a mix of rent-stabilized and free-market apartments and contain 23K SF of retail space. JLL’s Michael Zaremski and Clayton Ross arranged the financing.
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Related Cos. and Oxford Properties Group scored a nearly $1.4B refinancing loan for the 1.8M SF 10 Hudson Yards office tower, PincusCo reported. Wells Fargo, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley provided the new loan, which replaces a $900M CMBS loan.
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Bank Hapoalim lent $200M to MRR Development to refinance two Midtown East properties: a 145-unit apartment building at 126 E. 57th St. and a small adjacent office building at 127 E. 56th St., PincusCo reported. The debt replaces a prior $170M loan that MRR, led by Rotem Rosen, landed from Bank OZK.
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Edge Property Group scored a $115M construction loan from S3 Capital for a 276-unit Washington Heights development at 473 W. 165th St., PincusCo reported. The sum replaces an $18.5M mortgage on the site from Webster Bank.
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Madison Realty Capital refinanced a Rego Park apartment building with a $104.8M loan from Community Preservation Corp. and Related, PincusCo reported. The debt for the 419-unit property at 62-60 99th St. replaces a $105M sum from the same lenders.
