● Carlton
RE Equities pays $81M for
375 West Broadway
Carlton chairman Howard L. Michaels, announced the representation of Real Estate Equities in their off market acquisition of 375 West Broadway.
The sale price was $81 million.
The transaction was led by Carlton representative Steve Fenster who organized a commercial bank financing along with one of Carlton’s overseas equity relationships to facilitate the 5-story office and retail acquisition which is home to trendy retailer Anthropologie.
Real Estate Equities, headed by father and son Michael and Brandon Miller and Mark Siegel, in partnership with the overseas investor accessed by Carlton, closed last Tuesday on the acquisition of the 55,700 s/f property between Broome and Spring Streets, from a family that purchased the building decades ago. Aside from the overseas equity investor, Carlton arranged first mortgage financing from a large international commercial bank which provided senior financing.
The transaction stands to benefit from the huge increase of retail rents in Manhattan and SoHo in particular, according to Carlton.
Laurence Ross, managing principal of brokerage Highcap Group, represented Real Estate Equities, and Lee Spiegelman of SplitRock Group represented the seller.
●massey knakal
Brooklyn Law School puts portfolio on market
Massey Knakal Realty Services has been retained to sell the Brooklyn Law School Portfolio, which consists of six multifamily properties located in the historic Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of New York City. The asking price is $41,150,000.
The six properties, located at 89 Hicks Street, 18 Sidney Place, 144 Willow Street, 100 Pierrepont Street, 27 Monroe Place, and 38 Monroe Place, feature a combined 110 residential apartments and 56,342 s/f.
The properties have been continuously acquired dating back to the 1980s and have been owner/occupied by Brooklyn Law School.
Brooklyn Law School selected Massey Knakal’s Stephen Palmese to sell a portfolio of multifamily properties in Brooklyn Heights.
“This decision was based on the Law School’s strategic plan to consolidate student housing and to consider new real estate opportunities,” said Brooklyn Law School president Joan G. Wexler.
The portfolio’s six properties are within a half-mile radius of one another.
“The opportunity to own 110 units, of which 90% are vacant, in Brooklyn’s most desirable neighborhood, does not come around often,” said Palmese.
● cushman & wakefield
Team gets to art of the deal
Cushman & Wakefield served as the exclusive advisor to an affiliate of Madison Capital Management in arranging the sale and recapitalization of Cirkers Fine Art Storage and Logistics at 444 West 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan.
The transaction involved securing $39 million of debt financing, as well as private equity on behalf of the new ownership. The ten-year senior and mezzanine financing was provided by Redwood Trust.
A Cushman & Wakefield Equity, Debt & Structured Finance team of Steve Kohn, Dave Karson, Chris Moyer, Sridhar Vankayala and Tara Hovey, served as exclusive advisor to Madison Capital Management.
“We had very aggressive bidding from both the debt and equity markets, and the buyer had great options to finance this building,” said Karson, and executive managing director.
“The debt markets are particularly liquid right now, and Redwood offered a very attractive package that met all of the buyers needs.”
Cirkers is a state-of-the-art storage facility a few blocks from Columbus Circle and in close proximity to Chelsea art galleries and the museums of Midtown and the Upper East and West sides.
Madison acquired Cirkers in 2008 and has completed renovations to differentiate it from the competition.
“Art storage is a little off the beaten path for many investors, but the stickiness of the cash flow, the minimal credit loss and the quality of the management team won many investors over,” said Karson. “There is enormous appetite to invest in well-located property, and virtually everything in Manhattan is financeable right now.”
“The Manhattan fine art storage market has high barriers-to-entry,” said Chris Moyer, director. “Due to the lack of available land for new construction, high build out costs for fine art storage, and the scarcity of buildings suitable for conversion into fine art storage facilities, it is extremely difficult for new fine art storage facilities to enter the Manhattan market.”
