This Week’s N.Y. Deal Sheet: BXP Scores 250K SF Big Law Relocation
One office building’s loss is another’s gain, as one of the nation's biggest law firms is ditching The New York Times Building in Midtown in favor of an address across the street from the Flatiron Building.
Goodwin Procter has signed a 250K SF lease to move to 200 Fifth Ave., which is owned by BXP and J.P. Morgan Asset Management. The Boston-based firm is growing its footprint with the relocation — it leases 216K SF at the Brookfield Properties-owned portion of The New York Times Building.
Goodwin's lease at 620 Eighth Ave. is set to expire in 2028, but the firm plans to move to Midtown South in late 2026. Its new digs between West 23rd and 24th streets also count DoorDash and Tiffany & Co. as tenants.
BXP has a 27% interest and manages 200 Fifth Ave., while institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management own the remaining 73% interest of the joint venture controlling the property.
A Cushman & Wakefield team of Bruce Mosler, Ethan Silverstein, Anthony LoPresti and Bianca Di Mauro represented BXP in the negotiations, Commercial Observer reported. Mark Weiss, also of Cushman, negotiated on behalf of Goodwin Procter.
TOP LEASES
Intuit has signed a 115K SF lease at Edward J. Minskoff Equities’ 51 Astor Place, Commercial Observer reported. The owner of TurboTax moved into the building in 2023, taking the third floor, and is now expanding to take the fifth through seventh floors plus some ground-floor retail. Other tenants include financial services firm Tudor Investment and life sciences investment firm Perceptive Advisors. Paul Glickman, Mitchell Konsker, Benjamin Bass and Cynthia Wasserberger of JLL repped the landlord with in-house help from Minskoff’s Jeffrey Sussman and Matt Pynn. JLL’s Bart Lammersen, Justin Haber and Kyle Riker negotiated on behalf of Intuit.
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Rudin has signed two lease renewals with law firms totaling 51K SF at One Battery Park Plaza, the landlord announced. Skarzynski Marick & Black signed a five-year deal for the 28K SF 32nd floor and was represented by Newmark’s Andrew Peretz. Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani renewed 22K SF on the 28th floor for 11 years and was represented by Newmark’s Chris Mongeluzo, Hal Stein and Adam Weinblatt. Other tenants in the 35-story, 870K SF tower include Nationwide Mutual Insurance, Seward & Kissel, The Partnership for New York City and CetraRuddy. Rudin was represented in-house by Thomas Keating and Kevin Daly.
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Tile designer and home amenity retailer TileBar has signed a 12-year lease for 34K SF at Adams & Co.’s 53 W. 23rd St., New York Business Journal reported. The lease gives TileBar the entire third and fourth floors. Asking rents were $54 per SF. The deal brings the 12-story Class-B office building, which spans 205K SF, to 100% occupancy. Adams & Co.’s Jeff Buslik, Alan Bonett, Brad Cohn and David Levy repped the landlord in-house, as well as the tenant.
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CFG Merchant Solutions signed a 10-year, 21K SF lease at RXR’s 32 Old Slip, a 36-story office building in the Financial District, according to a release. The lease is a relocation and expansion, Commercial Observer reported. CFG is moving from 8K SF at 180 Maiden Lane before the end of this year, where its new neighbors include personal injury law firm Harris Law and fintech firm GTN. RXR had in-house representation from Daniel Birney and Heidi Steinegger plus representation from CBRE’s Ryan Alexander, Zachary Price, Alexander Benisatto and Nicole Marshall. CFG was repped by JLL’s Michael Berman.
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The Feil Org. has signed a 10-year lease renewal with Sotheby’s Institute of Art for 18K SF at 570 Lexington Ave., according to a release. Sotheby’s Institute of Art, which is part of BrandEd, will stay put at its current home on the building’s sixth floor. The tenant has been in the 1932-built, 451K SF landmarked Midtown skyscraper for the past 18 years. Tim Parlante, Kyle Young and Andrew Wiener repped the landlord in-house, while Newmark’s Brad Needleman and Matt Augarten repped the tenant.
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Ogletree Deakins is relocating to Rockefeller Center, Commercial Observer reported. The law firm is moving to 18K SF at the 31-story 1270 Sixth Ave. office building from a smaller space at BXP’s 599 Lexington Ave. Blythe Kinsler and Kate Walker repped landlord Tishman Speyer in-house, while JLL's Michael Berg, Sofia Bruno, Elizabeth Cooper and Brendan Dwyer repped the law firm.
TOP SALES
A retail condo unit in a 35-story luxury residential condo tower in Midtown East has sold for $31.3M, Commercial Observer reported. The retail portion of the 68-unit building at 200 E. 59th St. is now in the hands of Premier Equities. The seller was Alpha Investment Partners, the real estate investment arm of Singapore-based asset manager Keppel Capital. Residential unit prices at the building, which launched sales in 2017 but at the time struggled to find buyers, currently start at $1.7M for a one-bedroom and go up to $42.5M for a four-bed. Alpha acquired former owner Harry Macklowe’s stake in November 2019.
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Rivington Co. has acquired a partially vacant Williamsburg office building for $28.7M, Commercial Observer reported, with plans to turn the top three floors into housing. One William Street Capital Management sold the 81K SF, six-story building at 185 Marcy Ave., which was built in 1905. Ethan Stanton, Brendan Maddigan and Michael Mazzara of JLL brokered the deal.
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Related Cos. sold a 255-unit Bronx portfolio for $18.7M, according to a release. Moe Greenzweig acquired the five-story residential walk-up buildings, plus one six-story elevator apartment building, at 4002, 4014, 4128 and 4138 Carpenter Ave. in Wakefield and 3830 Bronx Blvd. Rosewood Realty Group’s Aaron Jungreis, Ben Khakshoor and Alex Fuchs represented the buyer and seller.
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Realya, an Israeli real estate investment firm, shelled out $24.3M for a five-building residential and retail Greenwich Village portfolio, Commercial Observer reported. The buildings, 387-401 Sixth Ave., span roughly 25K SF with 40K SF of buildable rights. Walter & Samuels sold the buildings after nearly 50 years of ownership. The properties were more than 85% occupied at the time of sale, with retail tenants including All Seasons Spa, Club Pilates and Orangetheory Fitness. Douglas Elliman’s Sahar Ziv represented the buyer in the sale, while KSR’s Albert Sultan repped the seller.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
A planned luxury residential building at 100 W. 37th St. netted $215M in construction financing, according to a release. Affinius Capital originated the loan alongside a senior loan from Kennedy Wilson and a junior mezzanine loan from Intervest Capital Partners. The borrower, a joint venture of Sioni Group and AB & Sons, is planning a 75-story building with 284 rental apartments and 27 for-sale condo units. The Midtown South property, called Milano Residences, is reserving 30% of its rental units as affordable housing. Galaxy Capital’s Henry Bodek arranged the financing.
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Delaware Life has agreed to lend $93M to Himmel + Meringoff to recapitalize its mixed-use building at 525 W. 57th St., Commercial Observer reported. Himmel + Meringoff co-Managing Partners Leslie Himmel and Stephen Meringoff put in additional equity to secure the deal. The sum will go toward completing a 50K SF medical space for Mount Sinai West's neurological and dermatology departments plus the lease-up of 63K SF in the building that is currently vacant. Existing tenants in the building include the International Multiple Sclerosis Management Practice and the Tisch Multiple Sclerosis Research Center of New York. Joshua King, Adam Spies and Christopher Kramer of Newmark negotiated the deal.
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David Werner and Nathan Berman scored a $90M loan for an office-to-residential conversion at 675 Third Ave., Bisnow first reported. The senior first-mortgage loan came from Northwind Group and will be used for the acquisition and predevelopment. David Werner Real Estate Investments and Metro Loft Management are under contract to buy the property from The Durst Organization for roughly $100M. The Third Avenue building is on the same block as the former Pfizer headquarters, where the duo is already working on a conversion that is expected to add 1,600 units to NYC’s housing stock.
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The Feil Org., BLDG Management and Nakash Holdings notched a $65M construction loan for an office-to-resi conversion at the Beaufort Building on Billionaires' Row, PincusCo reported. Deutsche Bank provided the mortgage for 134-140 W. 57th St., where Feil will convert the 90K SF office into 47 residential units.
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CIM Group scored a $245M refinancing for four Brooklyn Heights properties, including office buildings at 25 Columbia Heights and 51-67 Furman St., plus a vacant lot, PincusCo reported. The debt came from JPMorgan Chase and an affiliate of CIM Group, Panorama Lender LLC. It replaces a $335M loan issued in 2019 by JPMorgan Chase.
CORRECTION, APRIL 9, 3 P.M. ET: A previous version of this article misstated which part of 200 E. 59th St. was sold. This story has been updated.
