Easter Sunday Summary: No Rest for the Market!

You’d think that on the short weeks — the ones with Passover and Good Friday in them — the news would take a break. Or at least slow down.

Silly rabbit.

First off, Stefan Soloviev’s Soloviev Group clocked what they’re calling a “record-setting lease deal” of $327.50 per square foot for a 5,063-square-foot office at 9 West 57th Street to a mysterious family office tenant. (We’re taking guesses.)

No one should be 100 percent surprised. While we’re not oblivious to the nervousness in the market around inflation, war and recession, up until last month New York City office seemed to be firing on all cylinders. With the first quarter in the books, Avison Young said that 10.4 million square feet of office leases were signed in Manhattan, with the middle part of the market (from 10,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet) staging a comeback. (Is the small business sector of the market next?) Colliers went one better, reporting 11.78 million square feet in leasing, making it the strongest first quarter in six years.

Second up, Digital Realty, a global data center REIT, trumpeted its new hyperscale data center fund with $3.25 billion in investments!

And, if you thought life science was over, the good folks at Blackstone would like a word. They announced the closing of Blackstone Life Sciences VI (BXLS VI) at …. wait for it…. $6.3 billion in commitments, which would make it the largest private fund ever raised in the sector. (We guess that the folks at Blackstone are giving their kids Faberge eggs on this Easter Sunday.)

Fund times

That’s a lot of fundraising. Beyond these individual jaw-droppers, the topic was very much on our minds as Commercial Observer sat down with BGO’s global head of capital, Julie Wong, who has her name on the firm’s recent $5.1 billion Asia Fund IV, the largest closed-end fund raise in the company’s history.

BGO had a banger of a week — through parent company Sun Life Financial it purchased Bell Partners, a multifamily management and development firm with more than 70,000 units, for $350 million. (The deal won’t close until the third quarter.)

Let’s get back to deals

Over in Downtown Brooklyn, Rabsky Group secured $765 million in refinancing from J.P. Morgan Chase for its 35-story, 1,102-unit 625 Fulton Street project.

Down in Coral Springs, Fla., Related Ross plunked down $36.5 million for an office campus consisting of a 107,736-square-foot building at 3975 Northwest 120th Avenue and another 97,892-square-feet one at 4000 Coral Ridge Drive (and also an empty 2.3-acre lot).

The Texas-based Dalfen Industrial purchased a 1.4 million-square-foot U.S. industrial portfolio from Mapletree Investments for $207.5 million.

And, while those true-blue Mets fans wanted to bury their faces in their hands all week, it was not a bad week for sports and real estate.

The Washington Commanders signed a 60,000-square-foot lease for front offices at 2200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in D.C.’s Foggy Bottom in a BXP-owned property.

And On Location — the official hospitality provider of the 2028 Summer Olympics — took 108,272 square feet at Union Bank Plaza (aka 445 South Figueroa Street) in Downtown Los Angeles.

Sunday reading

Today is Easter, and we wish all those who are observing it a meaningful, wonderful day.

But, if you’re one of those compulsive types who can’t fully step away from the biz, here are three articles to keep you on the line.

First, CO sat down with Liz Hart, Newmark’s president of leasing for North America, to discuss the market, AI tenants and being a woman in a male-dominated profession.

Second, we looked at some of the crypto evangelists who have been trying to integrate bitcoin into real estate transactions.

And, if you’re curious about the bidder on the multibillion-dollar debacle that is Oceanwide Plaza in Los Angeles, take a look here.

See you next week.