Verizon Moving Headquarters To Vornado’s Penn 2: The N.Y. Deal Sheet
Verizon has signed a massive lease relocating its global headquarters from Midtown to just next to Penn Station.
The telecommunications giant signed a 203K SF, 19-year office lease at Vornado Realty Trust’s recently redeveloped Penn 2 tower, taking up floors eight through 10, the companies announced. Verizon will also open a 4,400 SF flagship retail space on the building's ground floor on Seventh Avenue.
The company's plans to move to the 1.6M SF, 31-story tower comes as it ramps up its in-office requirements for management staff, The Wall Street Journal reported. Verizon plans to consolidate roughly 1,000 employees from two other Manhattan locations over the next year, beginning with an in-person requirement three days per week for hybrid employees after Labor Day.
Verizon has offices at 1095 Sixth Ave., a 1.2M SF office tower also known as 3 Bryant Park that is owned by Ivanhoé Cambridge and Hines. It moved executives to two floors at the building in 2014, The New York Times reported at the time. It also signed a 143K SF lease at 140 West St. in 2021, the New York Post reported.
Verizon didn't respond to Bisnow’s questions about whether it will be vacating the two buildings.
Its new headquarters represents an expansion and will give its workers exclusive access to 25K SF of outdoor space in addition to the building’s 180K SF amenity package. Penn 2 is now 60% leased.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Josh Kuriloff, Peyton Horn, Heather Thomas and Kyle Ernest repped Verizon, while Vornado had in-house representation from Glen Weiss, Josh Glick, Jared Silverman and Anthony Cugini.
TOP LEASES
Steptoe LLP has signed a 58K SF lease at The Durst Organization’s 1133 Sixth Ave., according to a release. The deal gives the law firm the 43rd through 45th floors of the 1.1M SF, 45-story building and places them alongside tenants including Charles Schwab, the National Basketball Players Association and Steinway & Sons. The Durst Organization was represented in-house by Rocco Romeo and Nora Caliban, while CBRE’s Timothy Dempsey and Greg Maurer-Hollaender represented Steptoe.
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Fashion manufacturer Capelli Sales has extended its lease at the Rosen family’s 1 E. 33rd St., holding onto its 39K SF space for another 11 years and 11 months, according to a release. The company has been in the 156K SF, 12-story building since 2002 and occupies floors eight through 10. GMA Accessories, Capelli Sales’ parent company, also signed a deal extending its 24K SF lease at 389 Fifth Ave., a 123K SF, 12-story building also owned by the Rosen family, for the same duration. Michael Joseph with Colliers International repped the tenants in both, while Koeppel Rosen’s Max Koeppel repped the landlord in-house.
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Rabina has signed three leases totaling 29K SF for the office space at 520 Fifth Ave., according to a release. Investment firm Ancient took 9K SF on the 14th floor, global investment firm JAB took 12K SF on the 11th floor and an unnamed, NYC-based biotech hedge fund signed for 7K SF on the 23rd floor. 520 Fifth is the tallest mixed-use building on Fifth Ave., reaching 1,002 feet. CBRE’s Ben Friedland and Hugh McDonald repped Ancient, JLL’s Matthew Astrachan, Seth Godnick and Stefanie Rock repped JAB and JLL’s Jason Robers repped the biotech hedge fund. The leasing team for 520 Fifth Ave. includes JLL’s Benjamin Bass, Paul Glickman, Frank Doyle, Clark Finney, Harrison Potter and Robin Olinyk.
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RFR has signed 80K SF of lease deals at 17 State St., its Battery Park City office tower that ran into financing difficulties before securing a three-year loan extension earlier this year, it announced Tuesday. Alternative investment management firm Alphadyne Asset Management signed an early renewal of its 44K SF space across the three floors in a deal arranged by CBRE’s Silvio Petriello. Law firm Bressler, Amery & Ross will renew and relocate its 8K SF space in the building. Atlantic Specialty Coffee renewed its 6K SF space, asset management firm Friendly Capital renewed its 4K SF lease and Samson Funding renewed its 6K SF lease. Life insurance tech firm Optifino signed a new 5K SF lease with representation from Derrick Ades and Lewis Gottlieb of CBRE. Law firm Pierkarski Law signed a new 4K SF lease and medical technology firm Aspargo Laboratories signed a new 3K SF lease. RFR was repped in-house by AJ Camhi, Paul Milunec and Ryan Silverman on all the deals and worked alongside JLL’s Mitchell Konsker, John Wheeler, Andrew Coe and Margaux Kelleher for all the deals besides Alphadyne’s.
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Impact.com has more than doubled its footprint at Williams Equities’ 470 Park Ave. S., signing a 10-year, 41K SF lease in the building, Commercial Observer reported. The tenant plans to relocate from 18K SF at 136 Madison Ave. and was repped by CBRE’s Alex Leopold. Williams Equities’ Michael Cohen, Andrew Roos and Robert Getreu repped the landlord in-house alongside Colliers’ Jessica Verdi, Mac Roos and Rachel Kirkham.
TOP SALES
Barings has sold Riverbank, a 44-story rental property located at 560 W. 43rd St., for $243.5M, according to a release. New York State Common Retirement Fund, with J.P. Morgan serving as asset manager, was the buyer, PincusCo reported. The 418-unit building was originally developed in the late 1980s as a condominium project. JLL’s Jeffrey Julien, Rob Hinckley, Andrew Scandalios, Steven Rutman and Devon Warren brokered the sale.
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Namdar Realty and Klosed Properties have acquired 85 Jay St., a full-block retail and parking condominium in Dumbo, according to a release. The commercial condo sits underneath a 727-unit residential building spanning 21 stories. Its 128K SF of retail space was completed in 2021 and will hit 89% occupancy once current leases are finalized, Klosed said in a release. The condo doesn't include the 77K SF Life Time Fitness in the building. The seller was CIM Group in a deal brokered by Newmark's Daniel O’Brien.
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Hawkins Way Capital shelled out $155M to buy the world's tallest Holiday Inn, Crain’s New York Business reported. The seller of the 50-story, 492-key hotel at 99 Washington St. was listed as Philadelphia-based GF Hotels and Resorts. The sale also includes an adjacent 8K SF restaurant at 103 Washington St. McSam Hotels’ Sam Chang developed the hotel in 2014 with Chinese developer Jubao Xie, who bought out Chang in 2017. The hotel recently served as a migrant shelter in a deal that was approved after Xie filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The hotel was turned over to Xie’s CMBS lenders after exiting bankruptcy.
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Beitel Group paid $84M to Lightstone Group for a two-tower Mott Haven development site at 355 Exterior St., PincusCo reported. The city approved Lightstone’s 2020 planning request to build a 566K SF, 710-unit residential building on the site in May of this year. The sale was split into two purchases, valued at $43.4M and $40.6M.
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A 47K SF office building in Little Italy has changed hands for $21.8M, Commercial Observer reported. Grand Elizabeth bought 41 Elizabeth St. from Eldad Realty. B6 Real Estate Advisors’ Alex Woodlief and Paul Massey arranged the deal, telling CO that the new owner may keep the building to its current use or convert it to residential.
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Brooklyn developer Chaskel Landau has acquired a Midtown office building, 350 W. 38th St., for $11M, Crain’s reported. The seller of the six-story building was Lai Enterprises. Landau signed an $8.3M mortgage from Long Island-based Broadview Capital as part of the deal. He appears to be affiliated with Wolfe Landau’s Watermark Capital, which has acquired half a dozen Brooklyn churches in disrepair with plans to turn them into residential buildings, per Crain’s.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Cale Street Partners has provided a $601M loan to Brookfield Properties to refinance its luxury retail condo at 730 Fifth Ave., PincusCo reported. The loan retires a 2022 deal of the same value from Apollo Global Management.
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A joint venture of fourth-generation real estate company MacArthur Holdings and Brooklyn-based developer Tankhouse netted $123M for the construction of a 158-unit multifamily development at 450 Union St., according to a release. Bank Hapoalim and IDB Bank provided a $90M construction loan, while Eyal Ofer’s Global Holdings Management Group made a $33M equity investment. The development will feature 118 market-rate rental units and 40 affordable units. JLL’s Christopher Peck, Peter Rotchford, Nicco Lupo, Winfield Clifford and Jonathan Faxon repped the borrowers.
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Sky Equity Group scored a $340M loan from Affinius Capital for 313 Bond St., a luxury residential building in Gowanus with 603 apartments across two buildings. The funds will go towards completing construction and bringing the building to stabilization. Henry Bodek of Galaxy Capital arranged the financing.
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Equitable Financial Life Insurance Co. has agreed to lend Domain Cos. $199M to refinance its 360-unit residential building at 420 Carroll St., PincusCo reported. The sum retires a $176M loan from Bank OZK.
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Rockwood Capital nabbed a $262.6M refi from MetLife for 147 E. 44th St., a 629K SF office building in Midtown East, PincusCo reported. The loan replaces a $260M sum from the same lender.
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Merchants Capital secured a $60.5M loan from Merchants Bank for the acquisition and preservation of Ocean Park Apartments, a two-tower, 602-unit affordable housing development in Far Rockaway, according to a release. All of its units are rent-stabilized, per a new regulatory agreement that developer and seller Tredway made with the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Rehabilitation designed to repair deterioration due to the development’s beachfront exposure began in May and is expected to be completed next year.
