Pharmacy CVS Caremark has signed a 15-year lease for 21,158 square feet at 3 Columbus Circle, it was announced this morning. Asking rents were not disclosed.
The lease is for the vacant part of the 768,565-square-foot building’s ground floor and a portion of the second floor, according to a statement from SL Green Realty, the landlord in partnership with The Moinian Group. The pharmacy is expected to occupy the space beginning June 1. Read More
Midtown Manhattan, the biggest and most expensive U.S. office market, is still adapting to New York’s post-financial-crisis economy, as technology and new media companies flood into the more affordable areas and banks remain wary of expanding in higher-priced real estate.
With construction getting under way on millions of square feet of planned Class A offices on the West Side, much of the leasing action for the year to date has centered on neighborhoods like Murray Hill, the Penn Station area and the Garment District, which are attracting companies that have been priced—or crowded—out of the technology hub in Midtown South, brokers said. Financial companies, traditionally the biggest occupiers of Midtown real estate, remained conservative, pursuing greater efficiency in their use of real estate rather than growth.
“The days of bigger is better are gone,” said Eric Thomas, senior vice president of Cresa, a specialist in tenant representation. “Capital preservation is still key. That’s why renewals still reign in many cases.” Read More
Did you ever uncover that your grandmother had numerous “favorite” grandchildren, or that your brother or sister was earning a bigger allowance?
If so, you might have felt like the city’s mayoral candidates as they come to realize that they might not be so special in the eyes of some real estate executives.
An article published in the New York Daily News shows that some real estate executives are throwing cash at more than one mayoral candidate in what critics believe is an attempt to butter up the next mayor – whoever it may be – to better suit their interests.
“Critics say it’s proof that some donors are not supporting a vision for the city — they just want a sympathetic ear from whoever wins,” the report stated. Read More
It’s been a busy month for Urban Outfitters. The trendy apparel retailer is said to have inked a deal for 21,000 square feet at 180 Broadway in the Financial District.
Jeff Sutton, who with SL Green Realty Corp. and Harel Insurance owns the building, represented the landlords. Stephen Plourde and Wade McDevitt of the McDevitt Co. represented the tenant, reported the New York Post‘s Lois Weiss. Since its inception 42 years ago in Philadelphia, Urban Outfitters has grown to over 400 American locations. Read More
Accounting firm EisnerAmper has signed a lease renewal and expansion at 750 Third Avenue, The Commercial Observer has learned.
The eight-year lease solidified the firm’s existing 138,000 square feet across floors 13 through 17 and 21, while adding 12,000 square feet on the 22nd floor.
“They have a dynamic, growing practice,” said Newmark Grubb Knight Frank Vice Chairman Mark Weiss, who represented the tenant with Rob Eisenberg and Robert Emden.
“It’s a good building, near Grand Central and with great functionality – and the landlord has been very reliable,” he added, referring to SL Green Realty Corp. Read More
SL Green Realty Corp. today announced that 35 office leases covering 457,677 square feet were signed in its Manhattan portfolio during the first two months of the year, already trumping its totals from the fourth quarter of 2012.
The year so far was highlighted by a 150,865 square foot lease signed with Eisner Amper at 750 Third Avenue, and the firm also said it has 600,000 more square feet in the pipeline
“Even though first-quarter leasing is typically slow, we entered 2013 with confidence, given our overall assessment of the New York commercial real estate market and knowing what we had in the pipeline at that point,” SL Green’s CEO Marc Holliday said, in a statement. “Our results and activity since January have far outpaced our expectations.” Read More
Following RXR Realty’s $700 million acquisition of 450 Lexington Avenue last year, six of the firm’s top executives met with sellers Daniel Saliba and Mark Troy of Istithmar World Capital for a closing dinner at Lavo, the Italian restaurant on Manhattan’s East Side.
A round of toasts that evening, most agreed, was in stark contrast Read More
Legal industry recruiter Major, Lindsey & Africa has signed a 10-year lease at SL Green Realty Corp’s 521 Fifth Avenue.
The transaction, coupled with Chinatrust Commercial Bank, Ltd.’s lease at the building, which was also just announced, raises occupancy at the 463,000-square-foot, 39-story boutique office building, located two blocks from Grand Central Terminal, to 98 percent, according to a statement from SL Green.
“Leasing activity at the building accelerated at the end of 2012,” said Steven Durels, director of leasing at SL Green, adding that “comprehensive redevelopment and value-oriented rents have attracted several new tenants to the building.” Read More
Chinatrust Commercial Bank, Ltd. has signed 15-year lease at SL Green Realty Corp’s 521 Fifth Avenue.
The transaction, coupled with Major, Lindsey & Africa’s lease which was also just announced, raises occupancy at the 463,000-square-foot, 39-story boutique office building, located two blocks from Grand Central Terminal, to 98 percent, according to a statement from SL Green.
“Leasing activity at the building accelerated at the end of 2012,” said Steven Durels, director of leasing at SL Green, adding that “comprehensive redevelopment and value-oriented rents have attracted several new tenants to the building.”
Chinatrust Commercial Bank, Ltd. signed a 20,987-square foot, 15-year lease for the entire 11th floor; and Major Lindsey & Africa, a recruiter for the legal industry, took 21,677 square feet in a 10-year lease for the entire 5th floor, joining a list of tenants within the building that includes Royal Healthcare, Lebenthal Holdings, Starz Media and McGraw Communications. Read More
First it was the hipsters. Then it was China. And now the city’s largest office landlord, SL Green Realty Corp., is finally seeing promise in the residential development of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The real estate investment trust and commercial real estate giant announced this morning that it has agreed to purchase a newly completed, vacant residential building in the hip-turned-posh Brooklyn neighborhood — the company’s first foray into Brooklyn’s residential market.
Information in a prepared statement sent by the company suggests that the address is 250 Bedford Avenue, though it was not specified. Read More
Massey Knakal Realty Services has secured the 99-year lease at 1080 Amsterdam Avenue (aka 501 West 113th Street), where The Commercial Observer reported in August that a partnership between SL Green Realty Corp. and Stonehenge Partners would create a luxury residential building.
The property is located on the northwest corner of Amsterdam Avenue and West 113th Street, in the heart of Morningside Heights. Read More
SL Green Realty Corp., an affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII, Gramercy Capital Corp. and Square Mile Capital Management LLC have announced a joint venture for the recapitalization of a 31-property, 4.5-million-square-foot office portfolio in Southern California.
The extended $678.8 million mortgage financing was led by New York Life Insurance Company, acting as its agent. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale, Westdeutsche ImmobilienBank AG, Muenchener Hypothekenbank eG and Wells Fargo BankTotal were the lenders. Financing on the portfolio after the recapitalization is $746.8 million. Read More
The Naftali Group has obtained financing to develop a luxury rental building at 316 Bergen Street on Third Avenue in the Boerum Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, the firm’s founder, Miki Naftali, confirmed to The Mortgage Observer. The developer signed for building and project loan mortgages for a total of $18 million on the three lots, according to public records. The lender is PNC Bank. The total cost of the projects, of about $30 million will be covered with the loan and with equities, Mr. Naftali said.
Last May, Naftali Group teamed up with investment management advisor AEW to buy the 90,000-square-foot development site for $6.72 million. The partners plan to build an 85-unit rental property with 45 residential parking spaces, an open space, a lounge e and a gym. ODA Architecture has designed the project. Read More
Fast-growing website View The Space has poached SL Green Realty Corp.’s director of marketing to become the head of marketing for the upstart start-up, it was announced today.
Melissa Libner, who had worked for SL Green and its subsidiary eEmerge for nearly 12 years, is excited to be joining VTS.
“From the minute I saw their product, I knew this is where the world was heading,” Ms. Libner, 35, told The Commercial Observer.
Despite spending most of her career at SL Green, Ms. Libner felt she had taken her job at the REIT as high as she could.
“SL Green is never going to value marketing and ideas and innovation the way a start-up like VTS would, because they have so much to grow in this marketplace,” she said. Read More
An Israeli insurance and finance group and a local developer are partnering with SL Green Realty Corp. to build a tower for student housing at Pace University. Harel Insurance and Finance and the Naftali Group are developing a dormitory with the REIT at 33 Beekman Street. Read More
Affordable Housing or Lack Thereof
