Contact Us
News

This Week's N.Y. Deal Sheet

Although the investment sales market remained slow over the past week, there was significant activity in New York City property financing. Several affordable housing projects and a proposed Brooklyn office tower scored large loans.

TOP FINANCING DEALS

Placeholder
A partial rendering of One Willoughby Square, the Downtown Brooklyn office tower being developed by JEMB Realty and designed by FXFowle

Mack Real Estate provided $290M to Al Rayyan Tourism Investment Co. for the Manhattan at Times Square hotel, The Real Deal reports. The firm is owned by Al Faisal Holding, one of the biggest conglomerates in Qatar. The loan provides a $15M gap mortgage and assumed an existing $275M mortgage from Broad Street Credit Holdings, an arm of Goldman Sachs. Christopher Peck, Danny Kaufman and Jeff Bucaro of HFF arranged the financing.

***

Atalaya Capital provided $250M to Paul Kanavos’ Flag Luxury Group for its planned Ritz Carlton in Nomad, The Real Deal reports. The loan saw the company taking over an existing $50M debt, as well as providing a $108M building loan and a $19M project loan. Kanavos is planning a 145-key hotel on two sites at 1185 Broadway and 219 West 28th St.

***

JEMB Realty Corp. secured $235M from Canada’s Otéra Capital for JEMB’s office tower in Downtown Brooklyn, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company is planning a 550K SF tower, known as One Willoughby Square, which so far is one-third leased. FXCollaborative Architects, which is also designing the building, is taking around 40K SF there. There is also a 300-seat public school planning to take space on six floors of the building, spanning a total of 87K SF.

***

The New York City Housing Development Corp. provided $233M to Phipps Houses for its complex at 20-02 Mott Ave. in Far Rockaway. The financing includes construction loans for $106M and $72M, The Real Deal reports, and will be used for the first phase of the 1,700-unit complex.

***

Omni New York scored $170M for its mixed-use development in Jamaica, Queens, The Real Deal reports. The financing came from Housing Development Corp. Once complete, the complex at 92-23 168th St. is slated to span 413K SF and feature 389 units.

***

Hampshire Properties secured $115M from Square Mile Capital to finish construction on its property at 1277 East 14th St. in Midwood Queens, Square Mile announced. The eight-story building spans 265K SF and will feature 302 units. Meridian Capital Group's Morris Betesh brokered the deal.

***

New York Life Insurance provided $97M to the William Kaufman Organization to refinance its office building at 2 Gansevoort St. The loan replaces $95M from M&T Bank and offers a $2M gap mortgage, The Real Deal reports.

***

Ruby Schron’s Cammeby’s International Group landed $58M from Capital One Bank for 10 Stanton St. on the Lower East Side. The loan for the 146-unit property assumes a previous $40M loan and provides a $19M gap mortgage, The Real Deal reports.

***

The NYC HDC provided nonprofit group Volunteers of America with a $57M loan for 112 East Clarke Place in the South Bronx neighborhood of Highbridge. Volunteers of America is planning a 14-story residential building there, The Real Deal reports.

TOP LEASES

Placeholder
450 Park Ave. South

WeWork is taking 50K SF at 450-460 Park Ave. South, in a lease than will span six floors. Moinian Group owns the building, and this new lease takes up half of its space, The Real Deal reports.

***

IT consulting firm Virtusa Corp. is taking around 43K SF at Brookfield Place as a sublease from German bank Commerzbank AG, The Real Deal reports. The lease, at 225 Liberty St., is for 10 years and rents were not made clear. Daoud Awad and Scott Cahaly of JLL brokered the deal on behalf of Commerzbank, which took 175K SF in the building seven years ago.

***

Alvarez & Marsal, a business consulting firm, expanded by 22K SF at 600 Madison Ave. The company now has a total of 150K SF at the Ruben Cos.-owned building, The Real Deal reports. JLL’s David Dusek and Mitchell Konsker brokered the deal on behalf of Alvarez & Marsal, and asking rents were not reported.

***

SL Green inked a deal for United Refining, a subsidiary of John Catsimatidis’ Red Apple Group, to take 20K SF at 800 Third Ave. The firm has been in the building for the past two years as a sublease, The Real Deal reports. This new, direct lease with SL Green is for 10 years. The asking rents were not clear.

***

FMCG Direct, a subsidiary of Deluxe Financial Services, is taking 21K SF at Fisher Brothers’ 605 Third Ave., the landlord announced Tuesday. The lease is for 10 years, and will span the entire 37th floor. The firm is currently at 90 Park Ave., and will leave that space next year. The asking rents were in the $80s per SF, according to Commercial Observer.

***

Taco Bell Cantina is taking 2K SF at Walter & Samuels’ 500 Eighth Ave. for its first New York City location, Winick Realty announced Monday. Winick's Lee Block, Danielle Winick and Jeff Winick represented landlord Walter & Samuels in the lease.

TOP SALES

Placeholder
205 10th Ave.

Queens investor Athena Vretto paid $20M to Premier Equities for two retail properties in the East Village and Tribeca, The Real Deal reports. The retail condos are at 13 First Ave. and 271 Church St. Vickram Jambu, Chris Varjan and Itan Rahmani of Venture Capital Properties brokered the deal for both parties.

***

Morgenstern Capital closed on its $28M purchase of four contiguous buildings next to the High Line in Chelsea, according to the seller’s brokerage, Cushman & Wakefield. The properties include one multifamily and two mixed-use buildings and a single-story retail property at 203, 205 and 207 10th Ave. and 505 West 22nd St. Brock Emmetsberger, Winfield Clifford, William Barrett and Billy Simons represented the sellers, according to CO, a family that had held the properties for more than three decades.