By Gus Delaporte 3/26 12:30pm

Assignments

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Tri Realty Taps Colliers as Leasing Agent for 801 Second Avenue

Tri Realty has selected Colliers International as the exclusive listing agent for 801 Second Avenue, it was announced today. Currently,  the building boasts availability of an entire 8,500-square-foot floor and a 5,000-square-foot partial floor.

“It’s a small assignment, but an important client,” Andrew Simon, executive managing director at Colliers, told The Commercial Observer. Mr. Simon is joined on the leasing team by Drew O’Malley, Arthur Zuckerman and Jack Schulman.

The building is located at the southwest corner of East 43rd Street, in close proximity to Grand Central Station. “This is a value play in the Grand Central market,” Mr. Simon said. Asking rents for the building are in the low-$50s per square foot, with leases in the high-$40s achievable, according to Mr. Simon. Read More

By Gus Delaporte 3/14 7:30am

Lease Beat

277 park

Sterne Agee Expands at 277 Park Avenue

Financial services firm Sterne Agee has inked a 9-year expansion for 23,000 square feet at 277 Park Avenue, Andrew Sachs, executive director at Cushman & Wakefield, who represented the tenant, confirmed with The Commercial Observer. Asking rents in the building range from $65 to $85 per square foot depending on location, he noted.

Currently, Sterne Agee occupies 46,000 square feet in the building on the 24th and 25th floors. The new lease does not include a renewal for the previous space, according to Mr. Sachs. The firm moved to its current location in 2011.

“[Sterne Agee] is a fairly opportunistic organization that is seeing growth across a number of different business lines,” Mr. Sachs said. “It was a shrewd move on their part.” Read More

By Al Barbarino 1/30 7:45am

Sales Beat

(Credit: CIM Group)

CIM Group Scoops 225 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District for $78 M.

Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm CIM Group has closed on its purchase of the retail portion of 225 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District for more than $78 million, city records show.

The retail property consists of two parcels totaling 40,079 square feet and is currently 100 percent leased to a number of long-term tenants including JP Morgan Chase, 24 Hour Fitness, Verizon Wireless, and United States Postal Service. Read More

By Alessia Pirolo 10/03/12 8:00am

Mortgage Observer

Illustration by John Tomac.

Banking on the Community

When the owners of 197 East Broadway, on the Lower East Side, came to terms with the fact that their building was in desperate need of a renovation after 124 years as their headquarters, they made a move that might look obvious for any holder of a valuable commercial real estate asset. They looked for a loan. On paper, though, the Educational Alliance—a non-profit serving about 50,000 New Yorkers with a range of services, from pre-school, health and wellness for seniors to addiction recovery programs—is not your average Goldman Sachs client.

Nonetheless, in August 2012, Goldman Sachs’ Urban Investment Group committed $44.1 million of capital to finance the redevelopment of the Educational Alliance’s building. The financing comes in part as a New Markets Tax Credit transaction, and in part as a senior loan directly to the nonprofit. Read More

By Daniel Geiger 9/25/12 4:52pm

Lease Beat

60 Wall Street

60 Wall Street Hits the Market for the First Time… Well, Ever

For years 60 Wall Street was the cloistered home of institutional giants.

JP Morgan Chase built the tower in the late 1980s and occupied it through the 1990s. Then in the early 2000s Deutsche Bank acquired the building and it too filled the property’s entire 1.6 million square feet with its operations.

Because of its function solely as a large headquarters space to single users since its inception, 60 Wall Street has been a building unfamiliar to tenants and leasing brokers. Read More

By Carl Gaines 6/05/12 11:45am

Mortgage Beat

Wells-Fargo-Logo

Financing in Place for Related’s 500 West 30th Street Tower

Wells Fargo has provided a $190 million construction loan for the Related Co.’s multifamily development at 500 West 30th Street, just off the Hudson Yards development site. The 32-story tower will include 385 rental apartments, retail space and parking.  Joanna Rose, a Related spokesperson, told The Mortgage Observer that the project “is expected to go vertical by the end of the year.”

Alan Wiener, group head of Wells Fargo Multifamily Capital, said that the loan is in line with the types of projects the bank tends to finance in the New York area. “It’s going to be an 80/20 and even though it’s outside the Hudson River Yards, it’s right across the street,” Mr. Wiener explained. “We’re providing the letter of credit and it’s being financed by bonds issued by the Housing Finance Agency.” Read More

By Daniel Edward Rosen 12/29/11 9:00am

Lease Beat

4 MetroTech. (Courtesy Property Shark)

Deutsche Bank Takes 50K in Brooklyn

Deutsche Bank AG will be opening its first office in Downtown Brooklyn after it agreed to take 50,000 square feet at the JPMorgan Chase-owned 4 MetroTech Center, The Commercial Observer has learned. Read More

By Dan Geiger 12/13/11 9:39am

Lease Beat

1 Chase Manhattan Plaza. (Courtesy Property Shark)

EXCLUSIVE: In a Reversal, Law Firm Milbank Tweed Considers a Renewal

The law firm Milbank Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP is negotiating to renew its lease at the downtown office building 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza, sources said.

The firm occupies 375,000 square feet on several floors at the property, which is owned by the bank JP Morgan Chase. Rents in the deal were not available by press time. The lease is a change in plans for the company. Read More

By Sam Chandan 11/22/11 2:00pm

the lead indicator

Sam Chandan.

Core Investors Unfazed by Global Crisis and Domestic Imprudence

The potential for disruptions to global financial stability increased heading into last weekend. In Europe, both Germany and the European Central Bank rejected calls to expand the bailout to include large-scale bond purchases, insisting instead that the latter’s credibility depends upon its prioritization of price stability.

At a gathering of the Frankfurt Banking Conference, German Bundesbank president and European Central Bank Governing Council member Jens Weidmann said on Friday that “the economic costs of any form of monetary financing of public debts and deficits outweigh its benefits so clearly that it will not help to stabilize the current situation.” Read More