SALES

HPNY has closed on the sale of 131 West 14th Street in Midtown Manhattan for $13,000,000. The property is located between 6th & 7th Avenue. The 5-story mixed use elevator building is built 11,550 s/f and consists of four loft apartments and one store. The retail was delivered vacant. The building traded around $1,125 per foot. Seller of property was a long term local family. The purchasing entity was JD14St LLC. Sean Lefkovits and John Florek of HPNY brokered the transaction along with Elad Dror and Tony Park of PD Properties.

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Venture Capital Properties brokered the sale of 2598 3rd Ave in the Bronx for $5,250,000. The sale price represents a 7 percent capitalization rate. Jacob Stavsky and Josh Nazar of Venture Capital Properties represented the seller, 2598 Realty Corp. and the buyer, Gideon Asset Management, a high net-worth family office based in Manhattan. The single story medical office building has average leases of 10 years remaining and an additional 30,000 s/f of air rights. The buyer intends to hold the corner medical cash flowing property and will build on top utilizing the additional air rights.

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Sundance Real Estate Advisors and Partners has acquired the 172-bed student housing property The Bleu at CCSU in New Britain, Connecticut. Steve Rutman with HFF brokered the $5.3 million sale from Trinity Property Group. Located at 1412 East Street, New Britain, CT, within walking distance of Central Connecticut State University, The Bleu offers two- and three-bedroom units with in-unit washer/dryer, fully equipped kitchens and wood flooring. Amenities including a resident lounge, fitness center and onsite parking. The property will be managed by The Millennium Group. Sundance will enhance the property by improving the exterior lighting and making repairs throughout.

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Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P. (HFF) announced the following sales:
• Naugatuck Valley Shopping Center, a 382,864 s/f grocery-anchored shopping center in Waterbury, Connecticut. HFF marketed the property on behalf of the seller, and procured the buyer, Premium Property LLC and BH Premium Quality Waterbury LLC. Naugatuck Valley Shopping Center is 77.1 percent leased and is anchored by the region’s highest grossing Walmart as well as a full service Stop & Shop. The 50.5-acre site offers 2,155 parking spaces. The HFF i team representing the seller included senior managing director Jim Koury.

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Marcus & Millichap announced the following sales:
• 102 Baltic Street, an 8-unit apartment property in Brooklyn, sold for $2,085,000. Jakub H. Nowak, Matthew Rosenzweig and Jesse Kay, represented the seller, a private investor. The buyer, a private investor, was secured and represented by the team.
• 1709 Madison Street, a 6-unit apartment property located in Ridgewood, N.Y., sold for $2,000,000. Shaun Riney and Thomas Shihadeh represented the seller, a private investor, and the buyer, a private investor. This is the highest price ever paid for a partially vacant building of this type in Ridgewood.
• 361 Legion Street, a 4-unit apartment property located in Brooklyn, N.Y., sold for $850,000. Matthew R. Peters represented the seller, a private investor, and the buyer, a limited liability company.
• 1882 Palmetto Street, a 4-unit apartment property located in Ridgewood, N.Y., sold for $1,300,000. Shaun Riney, Thomas Shihadeh and Andrew Reiter, represented the seller, a private investor, and the buyer, a private investor. The sale prices represented 19 times the rent roll, with four Section-8 leases in place.

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TerraCRG announced the following sales:
• 1271 Willoughby Avenue, a vacant multifamily building in Bushwick, sold for $2,700,000. The sale price equates to $529 psf and $450,000 per unit. Matt Cosentino, Fred Bijou and Eric Satanovsky brokered the deal for as the six-unit 5,100 s/f property. The buyer plans to renovate the walkup building and rent the apartments. The seller was Bushwack LLC. The buyer is Cycamore Capital.
• 482 Tompkins Avenue, a mixed-use building in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, sold for $3,072,500. Matt Cosentino, Fred Bijou and Eric Satanovsky, brokered the off-market sale to Urban Standard Capital. The closing price equates to about a 5% cap rate at $340 psf. The building contains approximately 10,823 s/f and consists of 14 one bedroom residential units and two retail stores on Tompkins Avenue.

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Concord Capital New York, a Rockland County investment firm, has purchased Playtogs Shopping Plaza, an 800,000 s/f mixed-use site with over 200,000 rentable square feet. The site is located on the border of Middletown and Wallkill in Orange County NY. Concord founder and CEO Eric Jacobov plans to renovate the existing structure and lease the mall. Future development on the site may include constructing multi-family housing and even a hotel. The 18-acre site is located at 130-138, 144-146 and 156 Dolson Avenue. Jacobov purchased the center last month from CIII Asset Management, a loan servicer that foreclosed on the previous owner. According to records, the lender was awarded a $17.25 million judgment against the previous borrower. The bank then sold the property to Concord Capital for just over $4 million.

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Eastern Consolidated announced the sale of a 10,050 s/f luxury apartment building at 168 Suffolk Street on the Lower East Side for $12.82 million, which translates to $1,275 psf. Peter Carillo represented the seller 168 Suffolk St Owners LLC. Elad Dror and Tony Parks of PD Properties LLC represented the buyer, Eunhasu Corporation. Jonathan Aghravi, Managing Director and Principal, and Charles Han, Associate Director, from Eastern Consolidated’s Capital Advisory Division, arranged the buyer’s assumption of the existing mortgage. In addition to the leased ground floor retail space, 168 Suffolk consists of nine, two-bedroom, free-market apartments. The building was gut renovated in 2016.

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Besen & Associates announced the following sales:
• 4468-4474 Broadway, a 20,000 s/f two-story elevatored commercial building with six stores and five offices was sold for $9.15 million. Built in 1991, the property features 100 ft. of retail frontage along Broadway. The property was sold by the team of Hilly Soleiman, Amit Doshi and Ron Cohen. The sale price equates to $457 per square foot and 3.75% capitalization rate.

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The Blumenfeld Development Group (BDG) acquired an 80,000 s/f industrial building at 260 Spur Drive South in Bay Shore. The building, which was purchased for $6.15 million, currently serves as the North American headquarters of Tensator, Inc. a queue management specialist. BDG, who partnered with New Jersey based The Hampshire Companies, was able to simultaneously acquire the property and negotiate a lease extension for Tensator. Kyle Burkhart of Cushman and Wakefield represented Tensator, and Jason Miller and Jeffrey Schwartzberg of Premier Commercial Real Estate represented the seller in the transaction.

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CBRE Tri-State Investment Properties team arranged the $1.75 million sale of a single-story 3,700 s/f multi-tenanted retail property located at 375-381 Franklin Avenue in Wyckoff, NJ. Charles Berger, Elli Klapper, Samuel Bernhaut and Nicole Nannola represented the property’s seller and procured the buyer. CBRE has been retained by the buyer to act as the exclusive leasing agent, working to either fill the remaining vacancies or to fill the entire building with a single tenant.

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Rosewood Realty Group announced the following sales:
• A two story medical building in Southampton, Long Island for $9.75 million. The 21,606 s/f building at 365 County Road, 39A, sits on over 2.4 acres of land. Constructed in 1996, it sold for 11.66 times the current rent roll, at a 6.8 percent cap rate. Aaron Jungreis represented the seller, Benton Plaza LLC, and Jack Zalta represented the buyer, a private investor.

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Westbridge Realty Group announced the sale of a six-family building in Ridgewood, Queens that set a record price for a vacant building sale in that neighborhood. The 5,600 s/f building at 20-35 Gates Avenue was built in 1930. It sold for $2.275 million, which equates to $406 per square foot, or $379,000 per unit. Adam Traub and Isaac Schrem represented both the buyer and the seller, a long term holder who bought the property in 1985.

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The former headquarters and manufacturing plant of Montblanc pens, at 55 North Street, Bloomsbury, NJ, has been sold for $1,025,000. James Costanzo, president, Charity Realty, brokered the sale of the 22,500 s/f industrial facility. Built in 1972 for parent company, Newell Rubbermaid, the facility was later purchased by a cabinet manufacturer, which went out of business. In 2016, Charity Realty leased one half of the building to a competitive gymnastic and cheer studio. It has been purchased by 55 K Realty.

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The CPEX Multi-Family Sales Team has sold a five-unit multi-family property in East Williamsburg for $1,875,000. The property is located at 247 Devoe Street, between Bushwick Avenue and Olive Street in East Williamsburg. The three-story walk-up consists of five residential units and measures 4,500 gross square feet. 247 Devoe Street was delivered fully occupied with two free market apartments and three rent-stabilized apartments. The property sold for approximately $417 per square foot, or $375,000 per unit. Stephen Safina, Thomas Ryan and Alyona Chystyakova represented the seller and procured the buyer.

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Cushman & Wakefield arranged the sale of 272-274 Canal Street, a 6,600 s/f office conversion opportunity in TriBeCa. The final closing price was $8.7 million. Will Suarez, Maurice Suede and Sean Rucker represented the seller. The site offers a 4-story vacant loft building located on the corner of Canal Street and Cortlandt Alley, between Broadway and Lafayette Streets. The existing building is positioned for a boutique office with retail space that has 89 feet of wrap-around frontage. The property is designated for M1-5 zoning and offers 8,955-buildable-square-feet.

AGENTS

Ariel Property Advisors has been retained to sell 348-350 Lenox Avenue, two adjoining mixed-use buildings in Harlem. The asking price for the two 5-story properties is $9 million. The 20-unit building duo, which spans 19,730 s/f, offers 50 ft. of frontage along Lenox Avenue between West 127th and 128th Street. The properties contain 2 commercial and 18 residential units. Michael A. Tortorici, Marko Agbaba, Victor Sozio, Matthew L. Gillis and Matthew Lev are representing the owner. Six of the residential units will be delivered vacant (two of which are rent stabilized).

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Dan Shapiro of Besen & Associates, has been retained as a co-exclusive investment advisor for the sale of 81-119 West Main Street, Waterbury, CT, Waterbury Commons, a 180,000 s/f office facility. The Complex consists of five buildings, four of which are contiguous, and six surface parking lots: 81-111 West Main Street are four contiguous building spanning the block encompassed by West Main and Leavenworth Streets and Kendrick Avenue. The buildings were constructed in the early 1900’s and renovated many times. 119 West Main Street is an adjacent, 3,500 s/f historic building formerly known as the Mattatuck Museum. Asking price is $10,000,000.

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Cushman & Wakefield announced the following exclusive assignments:

• The sale of a two-story, 11,240 s/f retail building for sale at 89-22 Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst, Queens. The asking price is $10.4 million. Thomas A. Donovan, Tommy Lin, Eugene Kim and Robert Rappa will be leading the marketing efforts. The property boasts 40 ft. of frontage on Queens Boulevard and 135 ft. on 57th Avenue. Currently, the entire property is leased on a NNN basis to DeRucci Bedding Co., a high-end furniture store that has invested $1.5 million into their build-out and operates over 2,200 stores worldwide.
• A 25 ft. wide, 5-story mixed-use property located at 304 Columbus Avenue between 74th and 75th Street. The asking price for the property is $9,950,000. Paul Smadbeck, Conrad Martin and Bryan Smadbeck will be leading the marketing efforts. 304 Columbus Avenue totals 12,258 s/f and consists of 13 residential units and two commercial units. The residential units consist of five free market apartments, two owner-occupied units, five rent stabilized apartments, and one rent controlled apartment, ranging from studios to two bedrooms. The commercial spaces include a ground level 2,000 s/f property currently leased and occupied by Jonathan Adler Home Décor, and a 1,700 s/f lower-level retail space with street-level access and exposure, which will be delivered vacant.

The post ON THE SCENE: Cushman & Wakefield marketing Queens retail building; Midtown building sells for $13M appeared first on Real Estate Weekly.

In a city full of offices and office brokers, Robert Giglio is the man the city turns to when it comes time to address its own office needs.

Giglio is an executive managing director at Cushman & Wakefield and head of the firm’s leasing team that represents the City of New York. He also represents a collection of high-profile private sector clients and is perennially among the C&W’s top brokers.

Last year was Giglio’s 30th in the real estate industry and his most successful. With 1.1 million s/f feet leased for his clients, he was company’s top producer in the country.

“It’s great,” Giglio said of being named Cushman & Wakefield’s Top Americas Producer. “It’s a little uncomfortable, but overall it’s something that I earned and I’m proud of it. That being said, I’m really not the person that gives interviews all the time, so it’s kind of a unique experience for me.”

Known as Bob to colleagues, Giglio began his career in the late 80s at Newmark Knight Frank — back when it was known as just Newmark — under the tutelage of CEO Barry Gosin, an experience that he said laid the groundwork for his fruitful career.

“I still owe a lot of my success today to what I learned at Newmark,” he said. “Barry remains a good friend to this day.”

After several years at Newmark, during which he completed his law degree at the New York Law School, Giglio took a position at Galbreath Riverbank, where he worked under and learned from Bruce Mosler. In 1997, after Galbreath merged with LaSalle Partners, Mosler left for a position at Cushman & Wakefield. Giglio followed his new mentor and they’ve been at C&W ever since.

Much has changed since his early days in the industry, Giglio said, when he didn’t have so much as a personal fax machine, let alone a computer. In those days, he recalled, he gathered information by walking through buildings, pulling hard copies of public records, studying the listings in the Sunday New York Times and making cold calls.

His version of data storage was a box of index cards with names of clients, when he called them last, what they discussed and when he’d call them next.

Today, besides the fact that the city’s biggest buildings won’t let just anyone off the street walk through them, most information is readily available in a digital form, particularly for the city’s largest real estate advisory firms.

“It’s really become a technological business,” he said. “There’s really no excuse for not knowing everything that’s going on in the market.”

This has made things at once easier and more competitive.

“You don’t have to walk through buildings anymore, you push a button and you have all this information at your fingertips, but everyone else has it, too,” Giglio said. “That’s why it’s still important to align yourself with a senior broker who knows how to sort out all this information, someone to point you in the right direction, to go to these important meetings with clients. You will be years behind if you don’t do that.”

Of course, the way the business functions is not the only difference between today’s real estate market and the one of three decades ago. Tenant demands have also changed but so, too, have the abilities of real estate firms to address those demands.

Giglio said one of the biggest adjustments he had to make when he arrived at Cushman & Wakefield was getting used to the firm’s myriad services and teams that have become crucial to his success as a broker.
“When you get to a company as large as Cushman & Wakefield, you need to take the time to understand all the resources they have, so when you go out into the market, you aren’t trying to be a one-off broker trying to address all of a client’s needs by yourself,” he said. “Eventually, you realize you’re a part of a bigger operation.”

Giglio, who is part of the New York State and Connecticut Bar Associations, as well as the Real Estate Board of New York, said having his law degree has given him the advantage of being able to better understand leases, something many brokers struggle with.

John Santora, vice chairman and president of Cushman & Wakefield’s New York Tri-State Region, said Giglio’s Juris Doctorate has clearly paid dividends.

“Robert’s background as an attorney is evident in his strong negotiating, organizational and management skills,” Santora said. “His comprehensive legal understanding of all aspects of leasing and sales, along with his unparalleled dedication and perseverance in each transaction, make him an inspiration to the entire Cushman & Wakefield team to always aim to deliver innovative solutions and drive meaningful results to our clients.”

In addition to the City of New York, Giglio’s prominent clients include The Nielsen Companies, Aetna, PwC, Heineken, J.P. Morgan Investments, and STV, Inc.

After locking up the company’s top producer recognition in 2017, Giglio said he now has a higher bar to meet, but he’s ready for the challenge.

“Our industry is filled with triple-A personalities and you almost need one to advance in this industry because, by nature ,it means you’re never content, never happy with what you have and every year you want to be better,” he said.

“Now, when you’re at this level and you want to stay there, it’s the hardest place to be in real estate. My personal bar is very high now.

“I’m not naïve,” he added. “I don’t expect to be Top Producer in the Americas every year, but I can’t rest on my laurels. It adds a lot of pressure, but it’s good pressure.”

The post Top producer Giglio sets gold standard in brokering business appeared first on Real Estate Weekly.

Tishman Speyer announced the appointment of Gus Field as head of New York leasing.
Field will join the firm from Cushman & Wakefield, where he began his career in 1988, representing tenants in virtually every business sector: law, technology, media, entertainment, financial services, insurance, and not-for-profit.

At Tishman Speyer, Field will lead the New York leasing group where he will handle a portfolio of high-profile commercial properties and new developments.

Field started his career with Cushman & Wakefield on Wall Street in February 1988. He was one of very few in the real estate field to have remained with just one firm and, notably, with the same business partners, John Cefaly and Rob Lowe, since 1989.

He was a member of Cushman & Wakefield’s Global Leadership Group, an active mentor to summer interns and first year associates at the firm, a former chairman of the firm’s Tenant Advisory Group, and former member of the firm’s Brokerage Advisory Committee.

Throughout his career he has won many awards and recognitions, including being named a 2017 Top 20 Broker for C&W globally, and maintaining a Top 100 Broker distinction from 1998-2017. He is a graduate of Harvard University.

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Cushman & Wakefield has named Nathaniel Robinson as Global Chief Investment Officer & EVP of Strategic Planning.

The promotion reflects Robinson’s strong background in helping build the firm’s strategic investment and M&A capabilities.

Robinson will be responsible for shaping the firm’s broader business strategy and will allocate investment capital across the company. In this global role, Robinson will work closely with CEO Brett White, and will be based in Chicago.

Robinson brings over 15 years of strategic planning and investment experience to the firm.
Before joining Cushman & Wakefield in 2016, he was an Investment Partner at Virgo Capital, and prior to that, he worked in Morgan Stanley’s Global Technology Group where he advised leading software and internet companies on acquisitions, divestitures and joint ventures.

Robinson is also a co-founder and former Chairman of PhillyCarShare, which was acquired by Enterprise Holdings.

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Related Companies announced that Philippe Visser has been named President of Related Office Development.

Visser will be responsible for the development and construction of the firm’s commercial office pipeline nationally, including the current and future Hudson Yards office offerings, One Columbus Circle, 517 West 35th Street and Farley-Moynihan Station.

Visser joined Related in 2013 and led the construction of 30 Hudson Yards. The 2.6 million-square-foot, 1,296 foot-tall office tower will top out shortly and open next year.

Related is actively developing commercial office offerings in New York, Boston, Chicago, Northern California and South Florida.

Prior to joining Related, Visser served as Director, World Trade Center Redevelopment for the Port Authority of NY & NJ leading the $15 billion, 14 million-square-foot World Trade Center redevelopment.
Before that, he was responsible for the acquisition and development of New York City projects for Tishman Speyer, worked in acquisitions at Vornado Realty Trust, and ran the day-to-day development of commercial office and mixed-use projects for Forest City Ratner.

Visser graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Phi Beta Kappa member and Truman Scholar. He has an MBA from the Columbia Business School and a Master’s of Science in Regional and Urban Planning from the London School of Economics, which he attended as a Thouron Fellow.

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Cushman & Wakefield has hired Brian Decillis as a managing director of its New Jersey brokerage operations.

Based in Cushman & Wakefield’s Morristown office and working in partnership with Robert Donnelly Sr. and Rob Donnelly, Jr., Decillis will focus on agency leasing, tenant representation and multimarket account work.

Decillis offers more than 15 years of office leasing and real estate experience and has held senior leasing and asset management responsibilities at organizations such as Onyx Equities, Mack-Cali, The Lefrak Organization and The Gale Company.

During his career, he has held leasing responsibilities for more than 10 million square feet of office space in over 50 buildings in Jersey City, Bergen County, and Morris County.

Decillis received a bachelor’s degree in applied economics and business management from Cornell University.

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Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the appointment of the 13 remaining members to the City’s Charter Revision Commission.

Last month, Mayor de Blasio appointed Cesar Perales as Chair with Rachel Godsil serving as his vice chair.

The newly formed commission will review the entire City Charter. The review will include an examination of New York City’s campaign finance system, enhancing voter participation, and improving the electoral process, among other issues identified by the public in a series of hearings.
The new members of the Charter Revision Commission include:

Carlo A. Scissura, president and CEO of the New York Building Congress, will be the Secretary of the Commission.

Before his time at the Building Congress, Scissura spent years as a dedicated public servant in Brooklyn – working as the President and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and as Chief of Staff and General Counsel to Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

Kyle Bragg is 32BJ SEIU’s Secretary-Treasurer. A member of the 165,000 member 32BJ for more than 30 years, Bragg serves as trustee of several 32BJ funds and as chair of the union’s social and economic justice committee.

He is a member of the executive board of the two million-member national Service Employee International Union, the National African-American Caucus of SEIU and serves on the international union’s first Racial Justice Task Force. Bragg also serves as a board member of Community Board 13 in Queens.

John Siegal is a partner at BakerHostetler where he handles litigations, arbitrations, and appeals for clients in the financial services, media, and real estate industries.
Siegal’s public service experience includes working as an Assistant to Mayor David N. Dinkins and as a Capitol Hill staff aide to Senator (then Congressman) Charles E. Schumer.

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NKF Capital Markets has hired Christopher Kramer as Managing Director of Debt & Structured Finance.

Kramer will directly report to Vice Chairmen and Co-Heads, Debt & Structured Finance Dustin Stolly and Jordan Roeschlaub.

Kramer comes to NKF Capital Markets from Societe Generale where he originated conduit loans and helped build out the CMBS platform from scratch to nearly $2 billion in volume.

Prior to that, he spent four years with Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) CMBS platform where he played a key role in several major CMBS deals, including the $1.76 billion acquisition financing for HNA Group’s $2.2 billion purchase of 245 Park Avenue.

Kramer also previously worked at Arbor Realty Trust underwriting bridge, mezzanine, and agency loans.

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Pliskin Realty & Development announced that Gina Bellomo has joined the firm’s as its newest Sales and Leasing Associate. She will concentrate on tenant representation and retail leasing.
Bellomo brings over 10 years of commercial and residential real estate brokerage experience to her new role.

Previously, she served as the Director of Operations for Rapid Recovery. She and her husband are the co-owner/operators of Fluffy Bottom BBQ, a BBQ sauce and rub company based in Glen Oaks, NY.
In addition to her New York State real commercial and residential real estate licenses, Bellomo is a Licensed Notary Public.

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The New York City office of Cresa has welcomed veteran broker Leslie Keidan as Vice President of Transaction Management.

Keidan is known for her management of marquee accounts and exceptional record of driving multi-million-dollar growth. Among the many preeminent clients with which she has worked are Triad Retail Sales, Gannett, QuadrantONE, Time Warner Cable, Specific Media, Aquantive, Viacom and Cox Reps.
Prior to joining Cresa, Keidan served as a director at CBC Advisors and before that, was with DJK.
Keidan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Boston University. She is fluent in English and French.

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Lou Jug has been named managing director in the Global Investors Group for USAA Real Estate. He will focus on growing and developing relationships with investors globally and will serve as a resource to domestic investment partners across the U.S.

Jug joins the firm from MetLife Investment Management, where he was Managing Director and Head of Institutional Client – Real Estate for five years.

Previously, he held senior management and marketing roles at Fortress Investment Group and Clarion Partners and was Senior Principal Investment Officer at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.

Jug began his career in real estate in 1982 after earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

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Arch Companies announced the recent addition of Michelle Miller as Associate Director.
Miller has a diverse finance and real estate background including acquisitions, asset management and corporate finance.

Recently, Miller played an instrumental role on the investment team at Greystone Development; working beside then CEO Jeff Simpson and Director of Acquisitions Jared Chassen.

Before that, she briefly worked with Time Equities in its Real Estate Management Group. Miller began her career at HSBC as a financial analyst.

She received her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management with a focus on real estate and finance and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington University in St. Louis.

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Ken Ederington, AIA, R.A., has joined the architecture, interiors and branding firm Carrier Johnson + CULTURE as Director of Science.

With nearly four decades of experience as a project leader for scientific and research facilities, Ederington has designed dozens of laboratory projects spanning three continents.

Ederington received his Bachelor’s of Architecture at the University of Nebraska prior to embarking on his career and making his way to California.

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Ashley McGraw Architects announced the promotions of two team members.

Project architects Jason Evans AIA, RA, LEED AP BD+C and Nicole Schuster AIA, LEED AP BD+C, CPHC have been named Associate Principals of the firm.

Jason Evans joined Ashley McGraw in 2008. He is a recipient of the Downtown Committee Award of Excellence for his dedication to improving Syracuse through public art and community engagement.

Evans holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Syracuse University.

Nicole Schuster joined Ashley McGraw in 2016. She has been a Certified Passive House Consultant since 2015, and is currently applying her expertise to the Nuthatch project, an environmental learning and research site at Binghamton University that is targeting both Passive House and Living Building Challenge certifications.

A past president of the Central New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, she holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Syracuse University.

The post WHO’S NEWS: Field to head Tishman Speyer’s NY leasing, Cushman & Wakefield promotes Robinson appeared first on Real Estate Weekly.

IREM Luncheon

April 18: The Greater New York Chapter of the Institute of Real Estate Management is hosting a luncheon from 11:30 to 1:30 at the Union League Club, 38 East 37th Street. The topic is “The Importance of Being Ethical.” A discussion will be led by IREM ethics expert Nicholas Stolatis, CPM with real life ethical quandaries. The luncheon begins with a networking cocktail hour. Gentlemen, jackets are required. The cost to attend is $85 menbers; $120 non-members. To reserve or for more information please visit iremnyc.org or call 212.944.9445.

NY Real Estate Expo

April 18: Real Estate Weekly’s Kyle Campbell will moderate a panel on Raising Capital with the EB-5 Program during this year’s Expo at the NY Hilton – Midtown, 1335 Ave. Speakers include Michael F. Fitzpatrick CPA, Baker Tilly Virchow Krause; Marcelo Salas, NES Financial; Sam Newbold, Barst Mukamel & Kliener; Clem Turner, Barst Mukamel & Kliener; Mona Shah, Mona Shah & Associates and; Joanne C. Chiu CPA, China Desk, Marks Paneth. THe day-long Expo will feature several panel discussions with guests including Jeff Gural, Francis Greenburger, Bruce Mosler, Peter Riguardi, Stephen Siegel and others. For full details go to www. nycnetworkgroup.com

CoreNet Dinner

April 19: The New York City Chapter of CoreNet Global (CoreNet NYC) will hold its 2018 Annual Dinner at The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum from 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM. Over 800 corporate real estate industry leaders will gather on the ship for the event. For more information visit newyorkcity.corenetglobal.org.

She Builds Series

April 25: The Fordham Real Estate Instituteevent series called She Builds will highlight the women at the top of NYC’s real estate game. The inaugural event, The Dealmakers: Lessons Learned on the Front Line from Iconic Women in Real Estate, will take place from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus. The panel will be moderated by MaryAnne Gilmartin, CEO at L&L MAG, with speakers Kathleen Donovan, UBS; Nikkie Field, Sotheby’s international; Joan Sapinsley, Resource Real Estate Funding and; Christina A. Smyth, Esq., Smyth Law P.C. and President of RESA. Registration is $25 at www.fordham.edu

Women’s Summit

April 26: AmTrust Title will host a women’s summit featuring a cast of commercial real estate women panelists discussing the CRE market outlook and how to build tomorrow’s leaders. From 8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at The Graduate Center of CUNY Recital Hall, 365 Fifth Avenue. Speakers include Sarah Pontius, CBRE; Phuong Truong, BlackRock; and Sara O’Toole, Vornado. Proceeds will go to Women In Need. For details contact AmTrustTitleEvents@amtrustgroup.com or call 212-499-0100

CIBS Seminar

April 27: Commercial Industrial Brokers Society (CIBS) of Long Island Educational Program presents the newly installed Nassau County Executive Laura Curran discussing her plans and their potential impact on commercial real estate. From 8 -9:45 a.m. at Lower Level Auditorium, 58 S. Service Road, Melville, NY. Free to CIBS broker members and associate members. RSVP:Cmajid@cibs-li.com

LIREG Breakfast

May 2: Scott Rechler, chairman and chief executive of RXR Realty Corp., discusses the impact on Long Island of the Regional Plan Association’s 4th Regional Plan at a breakfast networking meeting of the Long Island Real Estate Group (LIREG). 8-10 a.m. Old Westbury Country Club, 270 Wheatley Rd., Old Westbury. COST: members, free; non-members, $60. INFO and RSVP: info@LIREG.org

IREM Course

May 7-10: Institute of Real Estate Management course titled Managing Maintenance & Budgeting daily from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Knickerbocker Plaza, 1751 Second Avenue. Course offers training in property budgeting, accounting, financial reports, maintenance programs and risk management. Meets requirements for CPM, ARM, ACoM. Register at iremnyc.org or call 212.944.9445.
NAIOP Awards GalaMay 10: The New Jersey Chapter of NAIOP announced the recipients of its 2018 Commercial Real Estate Awards to be presented at the 31st Annual Commercial Real Estate Awards Gala, at The Palace at Somerset Park in Somerset, N.J. Jon F. Hanson, chairman of The Hampshire Companies, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. Mack-Cali Realty Corporation CEO Michael J. DeMarco and Jeffrey J. Milanaik, partner, Northeast Region with Bridge Development Partners, will be honored with the Impact Award. Stan Danzig, vice chairman of Cushman & Wakefield, will be recognized with the Industry Service Award. Woodbridge Mayor John E. McCormac will receive the Caren S. Franzini Public Partner Award, which recognizes local champions of development that inspire and transform communities. The members-only Gala ticket pre-sale is open now through March 17. Ticket sales will be open to the public on March 18. For complete details and updates, visit http://naiopnj.org/Gala31.

Arts Benefit

May 22: The Barrow Group, a performing arts organization, will honor Howard M. Rubin, partner at Goetz Fitzpatrick, with the TBG Founders’ Award at their Annual Spring Benefit at 6:30pm. at The Barrow Group Theater, 312 West 36th Street. Tickets are $125 and can be purchased online starting April 16 at BarrowGroup.org. $100 of each ticket is tax deductible.

IREM Course

June 4-8: The Greater New York Chapter of the Institute of Real Estate Management is conducting a course titled Asset Management on June 4-8 daily from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Knickerbocker Plaza, 1751 Second Avenue (between 91st & 92nd Street) NYC. Course is comprised of skills based information that builds your knowledge of financing and valuation of real estate assets. Meets program requirements for CPM. A financial calculator or App is required. Laptop strongly recommended. Member price $ 1,628; non-member $2,000. Register 30 days prior to course start date and save $100! To register or for more information please visit iremnyc.org or call 212.944.9445.

June 12-14 & June 19-21

IREM Course

Become an ARM! The Greater New York Chapter of the Institute of Real Estate Management is conducting a course titled Accredited Residential Manager on June 412-14 & June 19-21 daily from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at ANHD, 50 Broad Street, Suite 1402, NYC. Successfully complete the class & exam and you’ll be an ARM! A standard calculator is required. Member price $1,298; non-member $1,590. Register 30 days prior to course start date and save $100! To register or for more information please visit iremnyc.org or call 212.944.9445.

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Fisher Brothers is partnering with Convene, the nation’s fastest growing office services provider, to create an exclusive tenant amenity center at 605 Third Avenue, its 1.1 million-square-foot, Class-A office tower in Midtown.

Designed by Convene’s in-house architecture and design team and serviced by its roster of hospitality professionals, the amenity center will feature a gourmet café and a terrace with lounge seating areas to work independently, hold collaborative discussions, or relax in an outdoor setting.

The amenity center will open in early 2019 on the 28,612 s/f seventh floor of the building, where Convene signed a 10-year lease.

In addition to the amenity space, the seventh floor will be further transformed with premium meeting and conference space, featuring state-of-the-art technology, and event areas that are available for hosting gatherings and receptions.

Convene’s staff of technology support, meeting planners, and event professionals will be on-site to organize and provide planning and production support.

“Today’s tenants demand office environments that are highly-amenitized, incorporate the latest technology, and provide vibrant settings that promote collaboration. By working with Convene, we are elevating our level of service and enhancing the experience of our tenants,” said Fisher Brothers Partner Winston Fisher.

“We are pleased to know our tenants will enjoy the benefit of having access to Convene’s elite professionals, award-winning chefs, and extensive suite of services at the building.”

Convene was represented in the lease transaction by Rocco Laginestra and Jared Freede of CBRE. Fisher Brothers was represented in-house by Marc Packman and Clark Briffel.

Fisher Brothers recently completed a $25 million capital improvement program at 605 Third Avenue. The centerpiece of the project was the creation of a brand new building entrance and lobby, designed by David Rockwell and the Rockwell Group.

605 Third Avenue’s roster of tenants includes Univision, AECOM, Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP, Jones Day, Katsy Korins LLP, and the United Nations Population Fund.

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Media iQ Digital, an analytics and technology company, has leased more than 23,000 s/f comprising the entire 25th and 26th floors at 261 Fifth Avenue, announced building owner and manager The Feil Organization.

The asking price for the 10-year lease was $85 psf.

Relocating from 8,013 s/f at Feil’s 853 Broadway, Media iQ is in the process nearly tripling its space.
Its new location will include exclusive access to a significant portion of a private rooftop terrace via passenger elevator. The lease brings the 405,000 s/f 261 Fifth Avenue building to more than 87 percent occupancy.

Brian Feil, Vice President of Leasing for The Feil Organization, commented, “This proves that our strategy of owning corner buildings in great locations near transportation and of various size around the city allows us to establish and maintain long-term relationships with our tenants. Over the past 10 years, we have patiently renovated and upgraded the majority of our office properties, and in each case have succeeded in bringing in high-caliber tenants.”

The building has a combination of tenants, approximately 50 percent of whom are in the homegoods industry and 50 percent general office users.

David Turino, Director of Commercial Leasing at The Feil Organization, represented the firm in the lease, while Brian Palumbo provided in-house legal counsel for Feil. Frank Coco and Owen Hane of JLL represented the tenant.

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Travel Tripper, a company that provides a web-based central reservation system for the hospitality industry, has leased the entire 12th floor comprising approximately 10,000 s/f in Charles S. Cohen’s 622 Third Avenue.

The company expects to relocate from 370 Lexington Avenue in the third quarter of this year.

Asking rent $65 a square foot, according to Marc Horowitz, National Director of Office Leasing for Cohen Brothers Realty Corporation, who represented the landlord an in the 7.5-year lease.
Joshua Stein of Norman Bobrow Company represented the tenant.

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MHP Real Estate Services LLC, the New York City-based boutique real estate investment, management and brokerage firm, is partnering with Banyan Street Capital to form a $3 billion venture.

MHP sold an undisclosed share in the company to the Miami-based real estate investment and management firm.

The partnership will create one of the largest privately held owners and operators of commercial real estate properties in the country. Their combined owned and managed assets consist of over 15 million square feet in the Eastern region of the United States with an aggregate value in excess of $3 billion.

Each firm has a strong institutional capital following, and collectively their team of talented professionals will continue to add value in their areas of expertise.

NORMAN STURNER

MHP and Banyan Street will continue to operate with their respective brand names, but will coordinate their efforts across Banyan Street’s Miami, Atlanta and Boston offices and MHP’s New York City office.
The combination of the two firms in New York City will round out Banyan Street’s East Coast footprint and provide the firms with the broader capabilities and resources to execute on opportunities on behalf of their respective clients, investors and partners.

Now that the partnership has been finalized, Norman Sturner will assume a position as chairman of MHP, and David Sturner will be MHP’s president and CEO.

DAVID STURNER

“The union of MHP and Banyan Street has been in the works for some time. With MHP’s portfolio at ninety-percent occupancy and Banyan Street’s desire to add the metro NYC real estate market to its East Coast portfolio, the alliance simply made sense,” said Norman Sturner.

Rudy Touzet, CEO of Banyan Street, said, “MHP has a 47-year history exhibiting skill, creativity and a passion for success. MHP’s and Banyan Street’s respective businesses are very similar and complementary. In combination, we will look to take advantage of these synergies, we will continue to be premier owners and operators of office buildings in our markets and we will continue to seek to add value and deliver high risk-adjusted returns for our partners and investors. Both companies are excited and agree that this strong strategic partnership will be mutually beneficial.”

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The Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone today announced that the organization’s longtime President and Chief Executive Officer, Kenneth J. Knuckles, will step down in June after 15 years of service to begin his retirement.  Knuckles has had a significant impact on the organization, which works to sustain the economic revitalization of all communities throughout Harlem, and on the greater Harlem community.  UMEZ has provided $87 million in loans for real estate projects, $57 million in tax-exempt bonds for real estate development and $98 million in grants focused on arts, culture and workforce development.  The organization’s Board of Directors is currently conducting a national search for candidates to fill the position with the aim of selecting a new President and CEO before the end of the Spring.

“For over a decade, Ken Knuckles has led the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, pioneering bold initiatives to create opportunity for the entire Harlem community, and as a member of the New York City Regional Economic Development Council,” said New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo.  “He has been a critical partner in our efforts to drive economic growth and development. On behalf of all New Yorkers, I thank Ken for his leadership and vision, and wish him the best in his next endeavors.”

“Ken has been such an extraordinary  leader over the past 15 years – the impact of his leadership with UMEZ can be clearly seen by simply taking a look at Harlem’s economic expansion over the past decade,” said Joseph J. Johnson III, UMEZ Board Chairman and Senior Vice President, Goldman Sachs & Co.  “Ken has been faithful to the mission and charge of UMEZ in not only helping revitalize the communities of Upper Manhattan by growing small businesses, but he has also helped to strengthen vital and longstanding cultural institutions with funding and technical support that allow these organizations to continue enriching the community and New York City as a whole.”

UMEZ was designated as an urban empowerment zone under federal legislation authored by Congressman Charles B. Rangel and signed into law by President Clinton in 1994. The borders of the empowerment zone were created to assist the residents that had the highest concentration of poverty as indicated by the 1990 Census

“It has been an honor to serve as Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone’s President and CEO for 15 remarkable years, helping grow the number of jobs and enhancing cultural and economic developments in these communities has been an astounding experience,” said Knuckles. “With the support of the board and my colleagues, UMEZ has played a large role in the revitalization of Upper Manhattan and will continue to do so.”

“The success of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone would not have been possible without the leadership of Ken,” said Charles Rangel, former congressman for New York’s 18^th congressional district. “When we passed the Empowerment Zone legislation with President Bill Clinton in 1994, we intended to bring investment, access to capital and job creation for local residence in Upper Manhattan.  Now 24 years later, we’ve seen billions of dollars in investments throughout this community from East Harlem to Inwood, 10,000 jobs created, cultural institutions that are now stronger than they’ve ever been, and small businesses that have opened and flourished, all with capital from UMEZ.  I owe Ken Knuckles a debt of gratitude for his leadership in transforming my legislation into action that has transformed my community for the better.”

During his tenure, Knuckles implemented strategies to promote economic development throughout the communities of Upper Manhattan.  He worked with the UMEZ board to provide a $15 million loan to East River Plaza—the first of its kind big box retail complex in East Harlem—resulting in the creation of over 1,000 jobs; a $5 million loan for the retail renovation of the George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal; and expanded retail investment with more that $12 million in small business lending.  He helped to catalyze the growth of the tourism industry with more than $45 million in grants from the UMEZ Cultural Industry Fund going to arts organizations like The Apollo Theatre, Studio Museum in Harlem, El Museo del Barrio, Harlem Stage, Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, Harlem Stage, and the Dance Theatre of Harlem.

“We at the Apollo are grateful for Ken’s visionary leadership of UMEZ and its continued investment in the vitality of the Harlem community,” said Apollo Theater Foundation President and CEO, Jonelle Procope. “Through the unyielding support from Ken and UMEZ, the Apollo Theater has strengthened its position as a creative and dynamic nexus of culture, race, and society and expanded upon our legacy as a premier performing arts commissioner and presenter.  All of us at the Apollo thank Ken for his generosity and wish him well in his next adventure.”

Lloyd Williams, President and CEO of the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce, notes, “Through Mr. Knuckles’ unique ability to collectively work with the public sector, elected officials, private sector and community based organizations, UMEZ has helped to create the road map that is a major part of Upper Manhattan’s continued growth and development over the past two plus decades.  The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce has been extraordinarily pleased to partner with UMEZ on the building of the highly successful Strivers Gardens mixed use residential complex, the annual HARLEM WEEK festival and on numerous business, tourism and cultural initiatives.  We can never stop thanking him for his leadership in Upper Manhattan in particular, and throughout New York City in general.”

UMEZ helps facilitate economic development all throughout Upper Manhattan in the neighborhoods of Central, West and East Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood. UMEZ investments have leveraged over $1.1 billion of private capital investments and this commitment has created nearly 10,000 direct jobs thus far.  In 2017, UMEZ became a recognized Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI).

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Oxford Properties Group closed on a $110 million mortgage to buy the leasehold interests in retail spaces and rental property within 252 East 57th Street.

Toronto-based Oxford, the real estate investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employee Retirement System, finalized the loan with Deutsche Bank’s New York Branch on Monday morning, according to online city records.

Developed by World Wide Group and Rose Associates, 252 East 57th has 95 residential units and stands 65 stories tall at the corner of Second Avenue. Oxford committed to pay nearly $280 million for a share of the building in February, though at the time it said it would finance between $150 million and $180 million in outside financing, according to a report from The Real Deal.

Oxford has been one of the more active institutional investors in New York City’s real estate market in recent years, buying a portion of St. John’s Terminal in January, partnering with the Related Companies on 10 Hudson Yards.

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The Williamsburg retail property at 98-100 South 4th Street has been fully leased out, according to Winick Realty Group who represented the owners, Meadow Partners.

“It was a pleasure representing Meadow Partners in these lease transactions,” said Aaron S. Fishbein, the group’s director. “These are two quality tenants who will add great value to this property.”

At 98B South 4th Street, Sessions has opened a boutique, class-based fitness concept that offers a circuit-based workout combining resistance and cardiovascular exercises. Opened in the first quarter of 2018, Sessions occupies 2,200 square feet on the ground floor and 125 square feet in the mezzanine. The space is extremely unique with very few columns, brick structure and skylights throughout.

Next door, at 98A South 4th Street, a 2,108-square-foot space was leased to Lemons & Olives, a food service company whose clients have included modeling agencies and high-profile magazine companies. The ground-floor space, which formerly housed Miusa restaurant, will feature both a retail component and a kitchen that will service clients throughout New York City.

“This is a strategic location for them, putting their facility in close proximity to Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens,” Fishbein explained. “In addition, they were drawn to the infrastructure of the space, including the high ceilings and skylights.”

Brennan Taylor from Conrad NYC represented Vanguard Collective, while Veljko Dobrilovic from Red Star NYC represented Lemons & Olives. Fishbein represented landlord Meadow Partners in both long-term lease transactions.

“We are excited to welcome Vanguard Collective and Lemons & Olives to the building,” said Greg Blake, director of Meadow Partners. “Both retailers offer great amenities to the residential component of this building, and also understand the long-term potential of South Williamsburg and its proximity to transformational development in the neighborhood.”

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A mounting backlog in EB-5 funding applications from Chinese investors has sent borrowers on a global search of new money to fund their projects.

And the government’s failure to unite American interests has caused a stalemate in EB-5 reform unlikely to be resolved during the current administration.

Speaking during last week’s New York Real Estate Expo at the New York Hilton, EB-5 experts said the oft-criticized visa-for-sale program has been stalled in Congress in large part because of arguments over urban and rural interests.

The program, which allows foreign nationals to receive green cards in exchange for investing in job-creating projects, has a been a huge financing source for projects in gateway cities such as Manhattan, Miami and Houston. However, rural areas have been short-changed as the foreign money goes where it knows.

“If China was attempting to raise money from the Americas and said, you have a half-million dollars you can invest in Beijing, or you can go to Guangzhou, how many people would go to Guangzhou, even though it’s the third largest city in China?” asked Clem Turner, a corporate attorney with Barst Mukamal & Kleiner.

Turner said some 90 percent of the estimated $16 billion the program brings in every year goes to projects in the same six-to-12 gateway U.S. cities. “Trying to figure out how to incentivize all those other cities and spread the money around without killing the golden goose to our large gateway cities is where the challenge is,” said Turner.

“The problem that we had with the last bill was that some people felt it took it too far towards rural, small America and it had the potential of killing demand off everywhere else.”

Earlier his month, Congress reauthorized the EB-5 Regional Center Program through September 30, 2018, without changing investment amounts or redefining the types of projects that should be eligible.

Now, while the industry treads water, Marcelo Sala, vice president with NES Financial, said a massive backlog of Chinese investment requests is building further concern about the future of the program.

EB-5 funds from China have fallen 28 percent in the past three years, according to data from NES Financial, as part of a phenomenon known as retrogression, when the number of visas requested exceeds the number available. It is believed that some Chinese investors will have to wait a decade to get their share of the 10,000 visas allocated annually for the entire world.

“The U.S. is not the only program in the world,” said Baker Tilly partner Michael Fitzpatrick, noting that other countries have smaller investment limits, shorter wait times and more visas available. “As we continue to not fix this problem we are losing out on capital and on jobs, which were the purpose of the program,” he added.

According to the panelists, the large Chinese migration agencies that had been the workhorse of EB-5 are now turning to countries such as Portugal, Spain, Ireland and Greece for investment immigration visas to meet demand from Chinese investors rattled by President Xi Jin Ping’s recent repeal of presidential term limits.

“There’s money available, the problem is they don’t want to wait eight to ten years to get here,” added Fitzpatrick.

Salas said the industry was already adapting to the drop in Chinese investment and turning to markets such as Vietnam, India and Latin America. “It’s all dwarfed by China, but the industry is very resourceful and it’s a matter of refocusing.” Other nation’s where EB-5 is seeing traction include Brazil, Columbia, Venezuela and Turkey.

Newbold said, “The America Dream, which still has cachet out there, attracts people who are looking to get out of a bad situation or just into a better situation where they have more opportunity, primarily for their kids.”

Added Fitzpatrick, “You go to markets where there’s political instability, economic instability, concerns about your children’s future. It’s not hard to sell [EB-5] but it is an educational process, it will take time to ramp up and understand the cultural nuances and preferences of those countries.”

As the industry adapts, the panelists agreed it was up to Congress to find a way to unite all the players and create a permanent solution for the program.

Explained Newbold, “Wyoming, Wisconsin, Arizona and Arkansas have a certain idea of what they want EB-5 to become. Then you have the Relateds, Extells and Silversteins who want it to be a certain way; you’ve got the shopping center lobby and chambers of commerce.

“Part of the problem is to take all these voices on what this program can become and form something coherent. Congress has not been able to put something together that can unify the disparate viewpoints and, until they do, you will see a certain amount of paralysis.”

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From the outside, 95 Evergreen, Hornig Capital Partners and Savanna’s redevelopment project at the former Schlitz Brewery in Bushwick, looks like a textbook conversion deal.

After buying the site for $33 million in 2015 and spending $30 million to turn it into modern offices, the joint venture signed a 20-year lease with the city for all 158,150 s/f last September then, earlier this month, sold the land to a Texas investor for $81 million. In and out, no problem, right? Not exactly.

“Frankly, and I’m not too bold to say this, we got a little bit lucky with Evergreen, all right,” Daren Hornig said during a panel hosted by the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties on Tuesday. “My business plan was, frankly, flawed.”

Hornig said he entered the North Brooklyn neighborhood expecting space would be gobbled up by large tenants seeking 35,000- to 100,000-s/f leases, but “nobody came knocking on our door.” Instead, he found a market flush with companies looking for between 2,000 and 10,000 s/f, each.

“You take a 170,000 s/f building and do the math … you’ve gotta get 30 tenants in that building, roughly,” he said. “That’s a lot of hand-to-hand combat on leasing every single tenant.”

That many tenants also would put extra strain the building’s mechanical systems and increased lost space, Hornig said. However, that crisis was averted when the city’s Human Resources Administration inked a long-term deal at the space and paved the way for an easy exit for Hornig and Savanna, which closed an $81.29 million deal with Dallas-based Ramrock Real Estate on April 10.

Hornig said the experience reaffirmed the importance of talking to local brokers and understanding a market’s demand before investing. He added that similar projects in Bushwick likely won’t be as lucky and if he were trying to put this project together today, he’d have a tough time getting financing.

“If I went out there today and tried to do Evergreen, it would be next to impossible to get that debt,” he said. “That market has just not trended in the right direction.”

Hornig Capital Partners has nine projects in New York City — eight of which are outside Manhattan — and six others outside the five boroughs, but Hornig said he’s been particularly cautious as of late. He didn’t make a single purchase last year.

Although he’s already closed one deal in 2018 (in Tampa, Florida) and he hopes to tack on two or three more by the end of the year (including, potentially, an office property on Long Island), he’s taking a slow approach and focusing on revenue-generating investments.

“I’m looking at deals that have income right now,” he said. “I don’t want to be long on a development curve where you buy land, buy a building, empty it out; that’s two or three years to stabilization. To me, it feels a little late in the cycle so I’m trying to stay away from that. I want more cash flow so I can go to a bank, get somewhat traditional debt and add value over time.”

While Hornig and Savanna struggled to draw large tenants to Bushwick, Atlas Capital Management seems to be doing just fine on the other side of Newtown Creek.

Senior Asset Manager Jay Fehskens, who joined Hornig on the panel, said his firm’s industrial-themed office building The Factory in Long Island City has been successful with tenants between 20,000 and 60,000 s/f.

Last week, The Real Deal reported that Atlas joined forces with Partners Group to buy out its previous partner at the one million s/f commercial site, Square Mile Capital. Previously, Atlas and Square Mile owned 51 percent of the building, which is reportedly valued at $400 million and houses the offices of J. Crew, Macy’s and Polo Ralph Lauren.

“For us to double down,” Fehskens said, “we love our basis, we think there’s continued to be additional demand and the pricing differential from where we can offer at our basis to Manhattan and even Brooklyn, is very attractive.”

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JLL has been tapped to sublease 350,000 s/f of Condé Nast office space at One World Trade Center space, the publisher confirmed yesterday.

After leasing one million square foot at the tower in 2011, the media giant is now looking to scale back as it grapples with an estimated $100 million in losses last year.

The sublease listing was first reported by BisNow, although rumors of the reconfiguration had been circulating for months.

Owned by the Durst Organization and the Port Authority, the tower is 77 percent leased. Earlier this month, a team from NKF took over from Cushman & Wakefield as leasing agents for the tower.

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Australian tenant engagement company Equieum is expanding into the US market.

The company — which specialises in amenities and programming for commercial properties — will be working with Vornado Realty Trust at 90 Park Avenue and PENN 1, which is about to embark on a total lobby redevelopment.

Equieum will also continue to work with Adams & Co. at 110 West 40th Street.

Having started in Melbourne, Australia in 2011, Gabrielle McMillan, CEO of Equiem, will be relocating to New York to open Equiem’s U.S. headquarters and will be joined by a handful of community managers, head of partnerships and a client services director.

“This expansion demonstrates our continued growth into a global leader that provides a seamless and efficient service, enabling commercial landlords to unlock new value in their assets and enhance the tenant experience,” said McMillan.

“Our partnerships with Vornado and Adams are evidence that industry leaders are turning to Equiem’s platform to build stronger communities within their properties.

“Our dedicated community managers will be deployed to engage tenants of participating Vornado buildings and create a unique and vibrant culture for each office destination.”

Equiem has developed a tech platform to connect property managers and tenants, deliver services and provide tenants with an online marketplace linked to local retailers, such as dry cleaning and pharmacies.

It enables the landlord to offer a suite of content, services and events, tailored and exclusive to their tenants.

David Levy, a principal at Adams, said, “The Equiem Portal is going to change the way we communicate with our tenants. It will dramatically improve the tenant experience – this system is poised to improve tenant retention and satisfaction and help create new relationships and communities within our commercial properties.

“I can’t wait to see tenants conversing with building management and with each other through an optional tenant directory.”

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Rubenstein Partners, a real estate investment manager headquartered in Philadelphia and specializing in office investments in the U.S., has opened offices in New York at 515 Madison Avenue.

The firm will occupy the entire 42nd floor of the historic Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan.
Rubenstein Partners has been active as an investor in New York office property for several years. The firm made headlines in 2015 by taking a majority stake in 25 Kent Avenue, the first ground up office property development in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in several decades.

The firm’s construction and asset management teams are currently overseeing all aspects of construction and leasing of the project, which is expected to be completed in Fall 2018.

Rubenstein continues to actively seek new value-added office investment opportunities in the city.

“Opening our doors at 515 Madison marks the latest step in the firm’s long-term expansion strategy. Our New York office supports enhanced deal sourcing ability in the New York region by putting boots on the ground in this key target market, and also provides outstanding access to national and global capital markets as we grow our capital formation team,” said David Rubenstein, founder and senior managing principal of Rubenstein Partners.

In addition to the firm’s New York acquisitions team headed by recent hire Robert Andrews, who joined from RXR Realty in September 2017 and serves as Regional Director of New York, the 515 Madison Avenue offices will house senior staff including: David Ballard, Director of Corporate Strategy; Fred Harmeyer, Portfolio Manager of Debt Investments; Ferhat Guven, newly hired as Director of Investor Relations; Jeff Fronek, Director of Investments; and Jeremiah Kane, Senior Advisor of Brooklyn.
Rubenstein Partners expects to further expand its Investor Relations team in the New York, with senior and mid-level hires planned for the near future.

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Primark, a European fashion retailer, has announced the opening date of its ninth U.S. and second New York location in Brooklyn at the Kings Plaza Shopping Center.

With 57,900 s/f of retail space, the Brooklyn location will feature women’s, men’s and children’s wear items along with home goods, beauty products and gifts.

The store’s design will feature 56 fitting rooms and 42 registers, access to free Wi-Fi and four customer recharge seating areas for enjoyable and convenient shopping.

Currently, Primark is recruiting more than 400 full-time, part-time retail assistants and supervisors on the sales floor, stockroom and cash offices, as well as visual merchandising.

“We are excited to expand our footprint with our new store at Kings Plaza,” said Jose Luis Martinez de Larramendi, President of Primark U.S. “We look forward to welcoming the people of Brooklyn and beyond to our store. This opening will mark another important milestone in raising awareness of Primark’s unique formula of Amazing Fashion at Amazing Prices in the U.S.”

Primark has eight stores currently open in Boston, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Staten Island Mall in New York,.

IT has announced plans to launch in two additional locations in the United States next year: American Dream, in East Rutherford, New Jersey and Sawgrass Mills, in Florida.

Primark has grown to over 350 stores since the first opened in 1969 in Dublin, Ireland , where the brand is known as Penneys.

The company expanded rapidly in the UK in the mid-2000s and now has branches in Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Germany, Austria, France and Belgium.

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City Hall wants to play matchmaker for affordable housing sellers and preservation-minded buyers.

Hoping to safeguard communities from “predatory investors”—developers who flip bargain-priced properties into top-dollar rentals—the Department of Housing Preservation and Development is compiling a list of qualified buyers with experience renovating buildings and keeping costs low.

Rather than a guide for the average seller, the list will primarily be a tool for community groups hoping to improve housing conditions without inviting full-blown gentrification. It will also denote which investors are eligible for city assistance.

Victoria Barreca, an executive at one of New York’s top affordable housing financers, said the goal is a level playing field between mission-driven organizations and their profit-minded competitors

“We’re trying to stem the tide of what’s happening in the predatory space and prevent displacement,” Barreca, director of capital solutions and partnerships at Enterprise Community Partners, said. “This is intended to counter what’s been happening in the market since the recession.”

Any organization with experience in the affordable market is eligible for the list, but non-profit organizations that make the cut qualify for the city’s Neighborhood Pillars Program, an initiative that aims to bolster Mayor Bill de Blasio’s push to create or preserve 300,000 affordable homes.

Through this program, not-for-profits can access financial assistance from an expanded New York Acquisition Loan Fund, the public-private equity pool that includes contributions from the city, Enterprise Community Partners and three other financial groups that specialize in affordable housing. Specific changes to the fund won’t be finalized until later this spring, ahead of the new fiscal year in June.

In addition to upfront assistance with down payments and other procurement costs, HPD and its partners also will help qualified non-profits with contract execution and other technical elements of acquisitions to speed up the process and make them more competitive with bigger, more profitable firms.

All qualifying buyers, including mission-based for-profit companies, are eligible for subordinate financing through the acquisition fund, back-end loans that are repaid slowly at a low-interest rate in exchange for stabilized rents, Community Preservation Corporation Senior Vice President Robert Riggs explained.

“The spirit of this is to compete with the market,” Riggs said, “not to influence it or oversaturate it or overpay.”

Backed by the New York City Retirement Systems, the CPC has provided long-term financial assistance since the 1970s when most of the properties it dealt with were vacant lots and foreclosures. With its “in rem” portfolio all but depleted, the city’s hope for maintaining affordability within the five boroughs rests on its ability to preserve the current supply of rent-stabilized properties and draw in as many unregulated buildings as it can before the open market has its way with them.

Like the 421a tax abatements and the Affordable New York program that followed it to incentivize new affordable units, the Neighborhood Pillars Program was designed to serve as a counter to the whipsaw effect unleashed on the city’s housing market by the Great Recession and subsequent development gold rush into working-class neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens and northern Manhattan.

“There are targeted communities that have experienced a lot of displacement in recent years,” Riggs said. “Market pressures driven by low-interest rates, a stable economy and really aggressive buyers have driven prices up and forced a lot of long-time residents out of their homes. What the city is trying to do is put some tools out there for buyers with experience owning an operating affordable housing to better compete and prevent the trend from continuing.”

Riggs added that neighborhood groups and community-based non-profits are the best-suited champions of this program because they have boots on the ground and knowledge of where living conditions are in need of improvement.

CPC and HPD will occasionally hear from a seller—usually a religious or mission-based organization—who wants to ensure a housing property remains affordable but Riggs said that is rare. He predicts the qualified buyer list and Neighborhood Pillars Program will have a greater impact on buyers.

One such buyer is the Jonathan Rose Companies, a New York-based housing developer that specializes in affordable and mixed-income projects. Managing director of acquisitions Nathan Taft said the company used similar initiatives in Denver and Massachusetts to grow its capital stack and add green components as well as other quality of life improvements to its developments.

Taft said many deals have originated from community group tips, so being a part of a certified list should help generate more business.

“That’s happened time and time again, where people reach out to us and say ‘we know this is coming up for sale’ or we’ll hear from a community group that’s involved with a sponsor but that sponsor had to pull out,” he said. “We’re pleased when people reach out to us.”

Although larger buildings will not be prohibited, Riggs expects the program to focus on buildings with fewer than 40 units. Jonathan Rose Companies and many of its peers in the affordable development space focus larger buildings that allow for more profitability, but Taft said the initiative is important, even if it doesn’t line up exactly with his company’s business model.

“When you look at the numbers, preserving affordable housing is one of the best investments of public dollars,” he said. “And what New York is doing is using its public dollars to leverage private dollars, so they’re getting a lot of mileage out of their investment.

Taft added that he will explore options for acquiring portfolios of smaller affordable buildings to make the numbers work. The city projects this program will preserve 500 affordable units between June 2018 and June 2019 then 1,000 more annually for the next seven years.

Although the city maintains various lists of qualified buyers, sellers and service providers, HPD Associate Commissioner Kim Darga said the idea for the qualified buyers list stems from a very different time in the real estate market: after the housing bubble burst, the city compiled a list of qualified buyers for distressed mortgages.

However, in just a few years, that list became obsolete. While banks couldn’t unload distressed notes fast enough in 2010, by 2013, discounts were nearly impossible to find. Darga said the goal with the qualified affordable housing buyers list is to create something that’s future-proof.

“We’re hoping this time around we can set up a program that works not only in this market today but in a market that looks different,” she said. “Markets always change and we hope it stays strong but in case another recession does come, we want to be prepared for that as well.”

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Delancey Street Associates (DSA) has formalized a partnership with Make It Nice, the hospitality group from Eleven Madison Park co-owners Will Guidara and Daniel Humm, and the International Center of Photography (ICP) to host private events on the top two floors of ICP’s new home.

Located on Ludlow Street, the center is set to open in 2019 and will serve as the cultural anchor of Essex Crossing. Make It Nice’s collaboration with ICP marks their first off-site partnership.

“Will and Daniel are the best in the world at what they do and have always been huge supporters of the arts. Bringing them together with the world’s pre-eminent photography institution is a match made in heaven,” said Rohan Mehra, a Principal at the Prusik Group who is spearheading the food and retail components of Essex Crossing.

“This partnership will complement the over 100 local food market and art vendors we are bringing to The Market Line directly across the street.”

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Oxford Properties Group has closed on a $110 million mortgage to buy the leasehold interests in retail spaces and rental property within 252 East 57th Street.

Toronto-based Oxford, the real estate investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employee Retirement System, finalized the loan with Deutsche Bank’s New York Branch on Monday, according to online city records.

Developed by World Wide Group and Rose Associates, 252 East 57th has 95 residential units and stands 65 stories tall at the corner of Second Avenue.

Oxford committed to pay nearly $280 million for a share of the building in February, though at the time it said it would finance between $150 million and $180 million in outside financing, according to a report from The Real Deal.

Oxford has been one of the more active institutional investors in New York City’s real estate market in recent years, buying a portion of St. John’s Terminal in January, partnering with the Related Companies on 10 Hudson Yards.

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