This Week’s N.Y. Deal Sheet: Law Firm Grows To 331K SF On Sixth Avenue
Corporate law firm Mayer Brown has signed a renewal and expansion at Rockefeller Group’s 1221 Sixth Ave., a 2.6M SF office building in Midtown Manhattan.
The law firm was already a tenant but grew its space by 96K SF to reach a total of 331K SF in the office building, a January office report from Colliers revealed.
Mayer Brown first became a tenant in 2013, when it signed for 187K SF in the 51-story office building, Commercial Observer reported. It grew to occupy 235K SF five years later in 2018.
Other tenants in the full-block office building include global law firm Dentons and Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse.
TOP LEASES
BXP has signed GoldenTree Asset Management to a 60K SF lease at the GM Building at 767 Fifth Ave. for 15 years, according to a release. The deal gives GoldenTree space across the 43rd and 44th floors of the 2M SF building beginning in 2026. GoldenTree is leaving 21K SF at 300 Park Ave. to grow, the New York Post reported. BXP recently completed renovations that include a 35K SF amenity center featuring a coffee bar and a fitness center.
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New York Cancer & Blood Specialists has signed for 35K SF at Youngwoo & Associates’ Radio Tower, according to a release. The 23-story, 305K SF building at 500 W. 181st St. includes an 85K SF, 221-key boutique hotel and 167K SF of Class-A office space. Marty Cottingham, Michael Gottlieb, Patrick Steffens, Joel Wechsler and Alexis Odgers represented the landlord in the deal with help from Savills’ Arthur Mirante. The tenant was represented by Ari Malul of Schuckman Realty.
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A&E Television Network renewed its 152K SF lease at Republic Investment Co.’s 227 E. 45th St., according to Colliers’ January office report. A&E has space in the next-door 235 E. 45th St. building for its headquarters and production studios, according to Commercial Observer, which first reported the renewal.
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Law firm Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP has relocated to 28K SF in Tishman Speyer’s 45 Rockefeller Plaza, according to a release. The firm is expanding from its prior lease at 114 West 47th St. and will set up shop on the 33rd floor of the 40-story art deco building.
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SharkNinja is opening a 14K SF office at 41 Madison Ave., Rudin’s 42-story, 560K SF office tower overlooking Madison Square Park in the Flatiron District. SharkNinja is receiving a $920K tax credit from Empire State Development to open the office and create more than 45 new jobs. The lease is a strategic expansion for the maker of Shark vacuum cleaners and Ninja kitchen appliances, which employs more than 3,000 people worldwide. Hopkinson Associates’ Steven Jacobson represented the tenant, while Robert Steinman represented the landlord in-house, Crain’s New York Business reported.
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Interactive gaming company Activate Games plans to open a 15K SF retail flagship at Resolution Real Estate Partners’ 24 Union Square E., according to a release. Activate, which offers game rooms where customers run, jump and climb to complete challenges, is taking part of the ground floor and the entire second floor in the 160K SF building. The property was originally the location of the S. Klein department store from 1912 until the early 1970s. It later became the Toys R Us flagship. Activate was repped by Tristate Real Estate Co.’s Chandler Slate and Sherry Chera. Newmark’s Jeffrey Roseman and Drew Weiss serve as leasing agents and executed the deal on behalf of the S. Klein Family LLC, which owns the building.
TOP SALES
Himmel + Meringoff has sold The Noodle Factory in Long Island City for $20.5M. Pearl Realty LLC acquired the multi-story flex at 21-07 41st Ave., according to a release from Ripco Real Estate, which represented the seller. The six-story building has undergone more than $13M in capital improvements and is partially leased, with tenants including Sadowsky Guitars, Future Memories and American Bridge Co. PincusCo reported the name of the seller.
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Hebrew Union College has sold 1 W. 4th St., currently home to its Jewish Institute of Religion, to New York University for $75.5M, Commercial Observer reported. NYU plans to use the property for its own classrooms as well as a potential center for education programming once Hebrew Union completes construction of and relocates to its own new building in 2027. David Carlos of JLL brokered the deal.
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The Elo Organization bought 21 W. 46th St. for $43M, acquiring the Class-B office building in Manhattan’s Diamond District from Arline Hannon-Weinmann, Commercial Observer reported. The sale first went into contract in November, when The Real Deal reported it, and the deal hit property records last week. The 15-story office building is fully leased. Elo previously told TRD that it plans to keep the building as an office rather than pursue a conversion.
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Bangladeshi investor Asef Bari shelled out $30M to the Bruno Family Trust to acquire a four-story Jackson Heights office building at 74-09 37th Ave., Crain’s reported. The Bruno family bought the building more than 70 years ago and rebuilt it in 2014 after a fire. The building is 80% occupied and tenants include Habib Bank, Romeo's Italian Ristorante and New York Ophthalmology. Dylan Walsh, Nick Kolbus, Kieran Baker, Jonathan Squires, Joshua Neustadter and Austin Weiner of Cushman & Wakefield acted on behalf of the seller and Guru Real Estate Services’ Wajahat Ibrar acted for the buyer.
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SL Green Realty has acquired 500 Park Ave. from Morgan Stanley for $130M, PincusCo reported. The sale encompasses two properties: the office building on the corner of 500 Park Ave. and the corner of 59th St. and an office condo unit in an adjacent mixed-use building that shares the same address. Bloomberg reported the deal when it went into contract in November.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
The housing conversion of the former Pfizer headquarters at 235 E. 42nd St. in Midtown Manhattan inched closer to reality after Northwind Group agreed to lend the developers $135M. The loan was originated by Northwind’s latest debt fund, NDF III, according to a release. The 33-story office tower is vacant, and David Werner Real Estate Investments is working with Metro Loft Management to convert the building into a 910-unit, Class-A multifamily building.
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Circle Realty Group netted a $100M refinancing deal for its 14 Penn Plaza office building, PincusCo reported. The funding came from Apple Bank. The new loan replaces a $130M sum from prior lender Morgan Stanley.
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New York Life Insurance Co. has agreed to lend $235M to refinance an Amazon-occupied industrial building in Maspeth, Queens, PincusCo reported. The borrowers were RXR, LBA Realty and PIMCO. The property, located at 55-15 Grand Ave., had a previous loan of $316M from JPMorgan Chase.
