Sunday Summary: No Rest for the Holidays

Promises of turkey and pumpkin pie would have to wait. But, if anything, it seemed like a fitting coda to the real estate market in 2024. Things are happening. Deals are crossing the finish line. Everyone was trying to cram in one more big deal before they cram their gullets with stuffing and mashed potatoes.

While Apple might be one of the world’s biggest brand names, the deal was not the biggest or best lease we heard about before the Thanksgiving festivities commenced. That distinction would have to go to law firm Ropes & Gray, which took 535,000 square feet at RXR’s 1285 Avenue of the Americas.

Then there was the private equity firm, Churchill, inking a 10-year, 78,163-square-foot deal at RFR’s Seagram Building at 375 Park Avenue.

One shouldn’t forget Guidehouse, the consulting firm, which took 45,125 square feet at RXR’s 75 Rockefeller Plaza. (They weren’t the only ones who signed at 75 Rock; the law firm Pallas and NCH Capital also took spaces at the address.)

And at SL Green Realty’s Daily News Building  (a.k.a. 220 East 42nd Street), the consulate general for the Federative Republic of Brazil renewed its 30,030-square-foot space. Brazil also tacked on an extra 23,066 square feet for the Brazilian Mission to the United States and 12,235 square feet for the Brazilian Financial Office, for a grand total of 65,331 square feet.

But that was just the New York City leasing!

Sales came in in Florida, like the 120-key Fairfield Inn & Suites Fort Lauderdale Northwest at 6800 NW 88th Avenue in Tamarac, Fla., which sold for $23 million.

There were Florida financings, like the $36.95 million in construction financing that Thor Equities Group nailed down for Wynwood Walk.

And Thor was also busy in Gotham. The landlord sold 280 Richards Street, an Amazon-leased warehouse in Red Hook, Brooklyn, to Terreno Realty for about $157 million.

But that wasn’t the only sale in New York.

Coming off a seriously excellent previous week (a $4.7 billion valuation on a single property would make anyone happy), SL Green (SLG) is in contract to buy an office condominium at 500 Park Avenue for about $130 million.

Blake Partners, JAM Real Estate Partners, The Straus Group and Gary Podell picked up a pair of office buildings formerly known as The Hive at 303 West 42nd Street and 300 West 43rd Street for $48 million from KRW Realty Advisors. (This is considerably less than had been pumped into the office’s renovation, which was around $80 million.)

And financings were going strong, too. Douglas Steiner’s Steiner NYC got a $148.5 million bridge loan from Deutsche Bank for its Admirals Row development in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

The big kahuna, however, might have to wait until after the holidays — that would be Tishman Speyer, which is on the verge of $3 billion in CMBS refinancing for its Far West Side behemoth, The Spiral. This comes on the heels of Tishman Speyer’s $3.5 billion refinancing of Rockefeller Center. But while they might have to wait until January to finally complete the refi, we have little doubt that the Speyer family had much to be thankful for around the holiday table.

And now we shop

The Thanksgiving holiday isn’t purely about Thursday. There’s also Black Friday and all the shopping that entails.

Just ahead of ICSC New York, the retail trade conference taking place later this month, there’s a lot to ponder in the world of shopping.

To a certain extent, it looks like many of retail’s greatest problems are behind us. There have been a lot of happy stories about retail of late … but one shouldn’t be lulled into seeing it as nothing but sunshine and lollipops.

There have been some notable bankruptcies and closures (just last week Advance Auto Parts said it was closing 727 stores.)

Even Black Friday has lost some of its relevance in recent years. “It’s a non-event,” Kate Newlin, a retail brand consultant and president of Kate Newlin Consulting, told CO in advance of the big day. “Early Black Friday sales are sucking any kind of adrenaline out of the system. It’s lost any sense of significance.”

We’ll soon be seeing the data on how true this is. Last year’s Black Friday saw a nice uptick in visits to malls, with increased numbers stretching as far back as the first week of November. 

“I think we’re going to see a pretty strong holiday season from a visitation standpoint,” R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical research at Placer.ai, told CO. “Over the last two years, our data has shown that people continue to show up at stores for holidays and events around deals and promotions.”

And an extended holiday shopping season is not necessarily a bad thing for retailers.

That being said, get ready for Cyber Monday!