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August 15, 2019
Foot Locker is continuing opening-week festivities at its Power Store in Washington Heights, the first of its kind in New York. The 9,000-square-foot store in Marx Realty’s 606 W. 181st St. is also the first among Foot Locker stores to showcase Nike App at Retail digital technology.
“The launch of the Washington Heights Community Power Store serves as an opportunity for us to enhance the in-store customer experience by working in tandem with one of our strongest partners, Nike,” said Frank Bracken, VP and general manager, Foot Locker & Kids Foot Locker US.
Foot Locker currently operates Power Stores in Detroit, Philadelphia, London, Liverpool and Hong Kong, and is expected to open more than a dozen new Power Store locations this year. Upcoming stores are planned for Los Angeles and Vancouver.
The retailer signed a lease with Marx this past April, relocating from its existing space at 625 W. 181st.
Event Recap: ‘Hotelification’ of Real EstateJuly 9, 2019 | By: Laszlo Syrop
On Wednesday, June 19th, ULI New York brought together a group of industry leaders whose organizations are disrupting the residential, office, and retail asset classes to speak on the topic of “The Hotelification of Real Estate.” Ellen Sinreich, Founder and Managing Principal of the Sinreich Group – a New York City-based real estate law firm that represents commercial landlords and tenants – moderated a wide-ranging and rich discussion that explored how changing customer expectations, macro-economic trends, and technology are driving a hospitality-inspired convergence in tenant experiences across asset classes.
She was joined in conversation by David Barry, President of Ironstate Development Corporation; Craig Deitelzweig, President and CEO of Marx Realty; Ken Himmel, President and CEO of Related Urban; and Ryan Simonetti, Co-Founder and CEO of Convene. Ironstate is a Hoboken, NJ-based developer of apartments and boutique hotels, including its hospitality-inspired residential brand Urby. Marx Realty owns and operates office and retail assets in 16 states plus the District of Columbia, including the 10 Grand Central office building in New York City. Related Urban develops and manages large-scale mixed-use assets as a part of the Related Companies, including Hudson Yards in New York City, CityPlace in West Palm Beach, FL and a 240-acre development in Santa Clara, CA. In contrast to the three more traditional real estate companies, Convene is a technology-enabled and vertically-integrated branded operating platform for commercial real estate. The company partners with class A office asset owners to create premium spaces that it manages as part of two primary lines of business: a meeting and event venue business and a third-party commercial property management business.
Kicking off the session, Sinreich prompted the group to explore what the term “hotelification” means in the context of their respective businesses. Several prominent themes emerged. Ultimately, the panel agreed, the trend reflected the emergence of an emphasis on core tenets of hospitality delivery: anticipating customers’ needs, providing comfort and flexibility, and utilizing human-to-human interaction to create emotional connection. Moreover, the term implies an attempt to avoid commodification by pursuing differentiation and authenticity.
“As opposed to commoditized, sanitized [product]… to talk about hotelification [is] to talk about inspired product, true product – something that’s authentic,” reflected Barry.
In service of these ambitions, hotelification involves dedicating significant attention to matters of aesthetics and design, operating partner selection, and programming – particularly the incorporation of multiple use types within a single asset.
“What separates our projects and the way we execute them is a level of taste, it’s about curating a project directly, it’s about having the kind of relationships with restaurants and hotel companies who have the confidence that you’re going to be successful with what you’re doing,” explained Himmel.
Using a specific building to illustrate this further, Deitelzweig discussed 10 Grand Central: “[it] was built in the 1930s, it’s Beaux Arts style. So we try to bring all of that in… We’re very into the details of making sure that it is authentic… we’ve got walnut wood and brushed brass and herringbone floors and we don’t do it in the Disney way, we do it in a modern interpretation… It’s really the attention to details that makes the difference and the tenants can tell.”
But the panelists were also careful to emphasize that the approach they were describing went beyond the level of design and programming that would be a standard part of any new development. Speaking from a philosophical perspective, Barry described a commitment to “elevating the product in a holistic way.”
Deitelzweig built on this by elaborating how his firm achieved a similar type of elevation on a tactical level, explaining “we look at hotels for inspiration and the reason for that is hotels are spaces that make you feel good… [Our spaces incorporate this emotional response with a] holistic approach for the entire building – as you approach, our buildings have doormen like you would see at a hotel, we have oversize doors… we look to all of your senses, outside there’s music playing, for instance, in our lobby we have a signature scent.”
Zooming out even further, Himmel described the process for approaching mixed-use projects and how different aspects of the projects create an interplay. “You’ve got to start with the programming… if you build hotels in your projects… you’ve got to decide who that operator’s going to be, the brand of that hotel… you’ve got to decide today, in mixed use projects, how much retailing you’re going to do… [Retail’s] not dead, it’s just being reinvented like so many parts of our business. So you’ve got to decide how you’re going to curate the retail… [it’s] the toughest question today.”
This attention to detail across design, programming, operations, and other dimensions can be understood as part of a broad shift in relationships within the real estate industry, opined Simonetti. “What’s happening, really, is the customer is being redefined and the expectation of the customer is now what the building owner has to do.”
Re-focusing on the end user experience in this way also demands a deep understanding of who these end users are and what they want. Data, intuition, and interactions with tenants can all help to inform that base of customer knowledge.
Convene is increasingly focusing on leveraging data and technology to do this, Simonetti explained. “Personalization within brick-and-mortar real estate is going to happen and it can’t happen without technology… In order to get to personalization… I have to actually know you, the individual: how you move through space, which spaces you actually go to, when do you work, when do you not work, which services you consume?”
Ironside takes a more analog approach, per Barry. “You need to think through the pieces… what does this resident need and where is the market going?” he explained. “It’s intuitive. Some of it is data-driven, in that other projects we have [allow us to] source feedback off the sites… [and ask the properties’ management staff] ‘What’s being used? What renewals are occurring and what reasons are people giving for that?’”
The panelists also took time to highlight a number of broad difficulties they faced. Scale and project complexity emerged multiple times in the conversation as critical drivers of execution risk.
“We always say that hospitality is the emotional, human-to-human delivery of a service experience, and that’s really hard to scale,” Simonetti added.
The scale and complexity of these types of projects also intensifies the uncertainties relating to developing product for future delivery, which all real estate projects face.
“You’ve got to really anticipate what’s going on for the next three to five years,” Himmel added. “Some of the programming items are so important to get right because you can’t change them… You can’t build a box for Restoration Hardware. Restoration Hardware is a bespoke product.”
Part of delivering a hospitality-like experience, is anticipating customer needs and providing seamless, end-to-end solutions. Historically, Simonetti pointed out, a significant amount of uncertainty fell on the shoulders of office tenants, who needed to understand what their future space needs would be. The advent of flexible space – either for core operating space or special-purpose event space – has begun to put asset owners in the position of delivering an office experience as opposed to static, un-activated space. That has shifted complexity and uncertainty to them, which – he added – is where partnership with an operator like Convene can add value.
Another major challenge facing the space is the tension between short- and long-term investment horizons. The scale of large mixed-use projects often requires an extended timeline to realize gains.
“I’ve been working in West Palm Beach for 21 years… finally that community has matured enough where it’s become a real city… but it’s taken a long time,” shared Himmel.
Returning to a more philosophical frame of reference, Barry mused that “we talked about how long it takes to plan these projects – eight years or ten years – but they sit around for fifty or a hundred years or longer. And so, in a sense, there’s a responsibility beyond just creating whatever thing can be created [easily] for return.”
Deitelzweig drew another parallel with the hospitality industry: “when [the macro-economy] gets bad, the hotel industry is the first one to feel it.” In other words, with shorter lease terms playing an increasing role in the office market, asset owners may experience increased market volatility.
Additionally, assets competing in the premium end of the market through increased investment in capital and operating costs may not find easy comparisons, thus incurring complexity in the financing and sale processes.
“Our rents are higher so when we look at a new acquisition we don’t really comp well… because we’re highly-amentized we have trophy-like rents and so it’s interesting when you’re educating capital partners on that. Some of them get it and some of them don’t but at the end of the day it’s about the NOI and we believe we’ll get that in NOI,” Deitelzweig shared.
This is particularly pronounced for assets comprising a mix of uses, which remain the exception rather than the norm. While “blended” rates may eventually emerge to account for different market standards that apply to the various component portions of hybrid products, there remains little consensus about how to value and assess such assets across the capital markets.
“There is no consensus in the debt capital markets and equity capital markets on how these assets will be valued… [but] my sense is in the next three to five years, we’ll get to a point where the capital markets know how to value [these types of assets],” Simonetti forecast.
Despite these challenges – significant as they may be – the night’s panelists made it clear that successfully applying hotelification strategies presented substantial opportunities to increase profits and mitigate risk.
“Our rents were $44 per square foot, we hoped to increase our rent by about $10 per square foot and we actually increased it by about $30 or $40 per square foot by delivering this hospitality-infused office,” noted Deitelzweig. “We had a full return in less than a year on that [investment].”
“This approach has been getting us 15-20% more per foot or per unit if it’s going head-to-head with other product,” Barry shared.
“If there’s a Convene in your building, you’ll get higher rents, your velocity is higher, and your retention is higher,” Simonetti asserted. “In our meetings and conferences product we can generate anywhere from four to seven times market rent [and in our workspace as a service product] we tend to see a two-and-a-half times revenue premium.”
“A lot of this is about deciding, programming, curating it, mixing it, the right way. That’s what’s fascinating about it: no two projects will ever be quite the same. That’s what I love about our business compared to what’s happened over the years in the commodity mall business where everybody had a formula. They had a formula, they thought they got it right, and they did forty of them,” added Himmel. “[Of] those forty, thirty of them aren’t going to be there in the next five years.”
Closing the session, Himmel neatly summarized the overall lesson of the conversation: “These are crazy wild undertakings and you have to staff yourself to be able to deal with it… We say, ‘how can we truly differentiate ourselves from our competition?’ There’s nobody [that’s] going to take on the kind of thing I’m describing to you. But if you could do it and you’re really equipped to execute it with the caliber of people we’re dealing with, it’s what the market’s looking for.”
As Coworking Conquers Markets, Landlords Wonder How Much Is Too MuchAugust 7, 2019 | Miriam Hall, Bisnow New York
WeWork, which has grown from a one-floor lease in SoHo to New York City’s largest private office tenant in the span of nine years, is expected to go public next month, targeting a $3.5B raise.
But amidst the hype of the highly anticipated initial public offering, the commercial real estate community continues to wrestle with how to hedge against the exploding coworking and flexible workspace sector, and how to capitalize on it.
While some say an IPO could quell lingering anxieties, concern about landlords’ growing reliance on coworking providers — particularly this late in the cycle — remain.
“I’m really excited,” said Jamie Hodari, the CEO of Industrious, one of the largest coworking providers in the U.S. “WeWork’s IPO and its eventual stability as a public company will be beneficial, and will be a powerful stimulant of landlord comfort with the industry, regardless of how the actual pricing comes out. [Landlords] are trying to understand our industry … Transparency is always helpful in solidifying a maturing industry.”
There is no questioning the voracious growth of the sector. Coworking leases in Manhattan increased by 200% last year, according to CBRE, with firms like Knotel, Convene and Spaces all taking space at a rapid clip.
Many well-established landlords have rushed to sign up WeWork and its counterparts, both with direct leases and revenue-sharing agreements.
But some remain cautious — others downright skeptical. Last year, Empire State Realty Trust CEO Tony Malkin likened the sector to “the Donald Trump of this cycle” — referring specifically to “when he borrowed so much money in the late ’80s so that by the early ’90s, the bankers got together and said, ‘It’s better to put him on an allowance and support his lifestyle than to let him go bust,’” he said.
Last year, WeWork reported losses of $1.9B against $1.8B in revenue, and its sky-high valuation of $47B has many in the market questioning the company’s future ahead of its IPO.
Marx Realty CEO Craig Deitelzweig said in an interview he fears heavy reliance on coworking could — if and when the downturn hits — lead to a similar situation after the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000s.
“We think it is one of the larger risks out there in the real estate market during a recession,” he said.
WeWork’s IPO would allay his concerns “none whatsoever,” he said, and the company will continue to limit its exposure to coworking. WeWork has a small location at Marx’s 430 Park Ave.
“We don’t believe in the model,” Detzelweig said. “We know as a landlord it makes more sense to do a 10-year deal with long-term tenants that are creditworthy.”
Concerns about the model stem back to Regus’ bankruptcy during the 2001 crash. The argument goes that if the economy heads south, small companies and freelancers will go back to working from their couch or the local coffee shop. On the flip side, proponents of coworking and their ilk say offering flexibility will be a blessing, not a curse, in the advent of a recession.
Hodari said that over the past 18 months, Industrious’ model has shifted to forming partnerships with landlords as opposed to arm’s-length leases. Those types of arrangements make up 30% of Industrious’ portfolio, according to the company.
With those agreements, he said, landlords can better understand the underlying fundamentals of the coworking company — far more so than with a lease.
“There was a sense of threat,” he said of the real estate view of coworking. “[Now] for almost any landlord I talk to, there’s been another evolution into seeing opportunity.”
On the whole, the rise of coworking has reshaped the tenant expectations of how an office should look and feel. That — along with the new office construction boom in New York — has forced landlords to step up.
“There is no doubt that our customer expectations of what they want in the workplace has changed,” RXR Realty CEO Scott Rechler told Bisnow.
RXR has begun experimenting with more partnerships with companies that embody the sharing economy. At RXR’s 75 Rockefeller Plaza office building, for example, there are plans afoot for Airbnb to convert 10 floors into 200 units, WeWork is taking 90K SF across four floors in a cost- and profit-sharing agreement and Convene is running a member’s club in the 32nd floor penthouse.
As a result, Rechler said, RXR is in the process of refinancing the building, though he declined to give specifics.
“In this instance, it was easier to get a new lender comfortable with the concept than the pre-existing lender,” Rechler said. TIAA loaned RXR $300M to refinance the building in 2017.
“In fairness to the prior lender, it made a loan assuming a traditional leasing scheme would go through,” Rechler said. “The new lender has the benefit of seeing and buying into the planned mix of these uses.”
He added that at this stage, he believes a portfolio should only be 20% to 30% exposed to coworking, although the company remains open-minded about that.
“There is a shift in the marketplace where companies want fully curated, one-stop procurement that they are able to get from flexible workspace providers,” Rechler said. “That’s something that is here to stay.”
Industrious CEO Jamie Hodari and President Justin Stewart
The question of exposure to coworking, and how the banks view it, is one that has become something of a parlor game in the industry.
Earlier this year, Tishman Speyer Senior Managing Director Chris Shehadeh said more than 25% coworking exposure means a lender will get “itchy.”
“What’s funny, is it used to be 10%, so 18 to 24 months ago it was 10%, now it’s 25%,” said Convene co-founder Ryan Simonetti, adding that he believes most landlords are now expecting that between 5% and 10% of their portfolio has to be allocated for flexible uses.
“That’s a massive shift,” he said, adding that there are now questions about how much of the office market, as a whole, should be flexible. “Is five, 10 or 15% the right number? Is 30%, 40% or 50% the right number?”
From a building sale perspective, there is little data to indicate what that right number would be. A Cushman & Wakefield report last year found that eight buildings that traded hands since 2016 where WeWork occupied more than 40% of office space all sold with higher-than-average cap rates, indicating the sales were considered riskier because of the exposure to coworking.
WeWork declined to be interviewed for this story.
Recently, Rudin listed 110 Wall St. — its Financial District tower 100% occupied by WeWork and WeLive — but pulled it from the market after selling another property, One Whitehall Street, to settle estate taxes. The marketing materials noted there were risks associated with the fact the building is entirely leased to The We Company, The Real Deal reported.
However, Rudin said those were standard comments for a building with just one tenant, and not unique to the coworking company.
“There was good and broad interest,” Rudin Vice President of External Affairs Nick Martin said. “Folks recognized the value of the asset, which included WeWork as the anchor tenant.”
Meanwhile, Adam Neumann, WeWork’s CEO and co-founder, reportedly plans to list a Greenwich Village office building that is almost fully leased to WeWork for more than $110M.
And in Washington, D.C., an office building that is entirely leased to WeWork sold last month for $119M, Bisnow reported last month, eclipsing $1K a SF, one of the highest per-square-foot prices in D.C. history.
“As more of those transactions come to light and the market can see that there are buyers out there that will pay good prices … I think that just helps their case,” Columbia Property Trust CEO Nelson Mills said. “There are not many examples of that yet, but we haven’t really seen anything going the other way.”
CXP’s portfolio is less than 4% coworking, Mills noted. His company last year agreed to lease the entire office portion of 149 Madison Ave., a 12-story building in NoMad, to WeWork. The deal is for 115K SF, and CXP is working with the coworking giant to transform the property.
There are no plans to sell that building, Mills said, but hypothetically, he would expect it would trade at a better than 5% cap rate.
“I think a recession would be a test to the model for sure, though you could argue that it would be more attractive,” he said. “I think we traditional landlords have learned a lot from observing and interacting with the WeWork story … More than ‘Will WeWork survive or will they grow or shrink,’ the bigger picture here is what is the WeWork phenomenon teaching us about the needs of tenants?”
This Week’s N.Y. Deal SheetAugust 13, 2019 | Miriam Hall, Bisnow New York
This week, a Midtown East building locked down a massive lease, part of a development site in Gowanus traded hands and two Manhattan hotels scored financing.
TOP LEASES
Life insurance giant MassMutual is taking 22K SF at 10 Grand Central, building owner Marx Realty announced. The lease is for the entire 12th floor, and the company is moving from 200 Park Ave. In total, the landlord has locked down 160K SF of leases at the building since it was repositioned, and is in negotiation with three tenants considering relocation into the Seagram Building, according to Marx’s release. JLL’s Howard Hersch, Sam Seiler, Brett Harvey and Cynthia Wasserberger are handling leasing for the building, where rents range between $72 and $120 per SF.
3 New Retailers Coming To Cross County Shopping CenterAlso Bath & Body Works is renovating its store and adding a popular home fragrance designer.
Aug 13, 2019 6:05 pm ET
Shoppers traveling to Yonkers’ Cross County Shopping Center will find three new retailers later this year: Mito Asian Fusion, Invicta Watches and Carvel Ice Cream. Bath & Body Works also announced that it is completing a full remodel of its existing store and will add the White Barn Candle concept to the location.
Adding these brands is part of an ongoing strategy to bring the most current and fresh retail concepts to Cross County, according to a spokeswoman.
“These three new retailers will perfectly complement the existing brands at Cross County Shopping Center and provide something new and fresh for shoppers to experience,” said James Stifel, chief investment officer for Benenson Capital Partners LLC, which co-owns the shopping center with Marx Realty.
Here are the details provided by Cross County Shopping Center:
Mito Asian Fusion is a restaurant hot spot for Asian fusion and Japanese fare. The menu features sushi and noodles, Hibachi, plus cocktails and more. With the original location in Forrest Hills, the Cross County location will be the second restaurant to open, in 5,000 sq. ft. near Old Navy, this winter.
The Invicta Watch Company will open in 963 sq. ft. adjacent to Macy’s in winter 2019. Invicta watches are Swiss made and are among the most popular timepieces in the world. There are thousands of men’s and women’s styles to choose from, including collaborations with Character Collection, DC Comics, Disney Limited Edition, Jason Taylor, Marvel, NFL and Star Wars.
Carvel Ice Cream is an American ice cream franchise, which will open in a 375 sq. ft. space, near Old Navy in fall 2019. Carvel is best known for its soft-serve ice cream and ice cream cakes, which feature a layer of distinctive “crunchies.” It also sells a variety of novelty ice cream bars and ice cream sandwiches. Carvel has deep roots in Westchester and Yonkers in particular. In 1967, the corporation bought the Westchester Town House Motel, on Tuckahoe Road in Yonkers, and renamed it the Carvel Inn, converting it for use as corporate headquarters, while still operating it as a hotel, providing them with a conference center for the annual franchisee conventions.
Bath & Body Works, a long-time retailer at Cross County Shopping Center, has recently committed to a 10-year lease renewal and has begun a complete store-wide renovation of the 4,100 sq. ft. space, located at Center Court. Bath & Body Works is one of the world’s leading specialty retailers and home to America’s Favorite Fragrances®. The NEW Bath & Body Works at Cross County Shopping Center will also feature a White Barn Candle Company, a popular home fragrance designer with a range of signature scents and products to choose from, including wallflowers, candle, hand soap and more.
Cross County Shopping Center was built in 1954 and is the largest outdoor shopping center in Westchester County. It is located at the intersection of Cross County Parkway and I-87.
MassMutual Signs Up for Full Floor at 10 Grand CentralAugust 14, 2019
Global insurer MassMutual signed a 22,000-square-foot, 10-year lease for the entire 12th floor at Marx Realty’s 10 Grand Central. The company is relocating from 200 Park Ave.
Additionally, international news agency Agence France-Presse, UK-based sports private equity firm 23 Capital, asset management firm Everside Capital Partners and educational technology company Decoded have signed long-term new leases at the newly repositioned office tower. Marx is also negotiating with three tenants from the Seagram Building looking to relocate to 10 Grand Central.
“The repositioning has transformed 10 Grand Central into one of the most desired office buildings in the city,” said Marx CEO Craig Deitelzweig. “Incoming tenants and brokers are awestruck by the attention to detail on display throughout the property.”
JLL’s Howard Hersch, Sam Seiler, Brett Harvey and Cynthia Wasserberger are leading a team handling the leasing for Marx Realty. Cushman & Wakefield’s Stuart Romanoff and Amy Fox represented MassMutual.
MassMutual Signs 22,000SF Lease at 10 Grand CentralMarx Realty has signed more than 160,000SF in new leases, upon the building’s $48M repositioning.
By Ingrid Tunberg | August 13, 2019 at 12:18 PM
NEW YORK – MassMutual has signed a ten-year, 22,000-square-foot lease at Marx Realty’s 10 Grand Central in Midtown Manhattan. The global life insurance company is relocating from 200 Park Avenue in Midtown, to the entire 12th floor of the refurbished 35-story building.
Since announcing the $48 million repositioning of the Ely Jacques-Kahn-designed office tower less than a year ago, Marx Realty has signed more than 160,000 square feet of new leases in the nearly 500,000-square-foot building.
The newly reimagined, 1931 tower has attracted long-term leases, including 2,700 square feet for the international news agency, Agence France-Presse; 3,600 square feet for the UK-based sports private equity firm, 23 Capital; 4,200 square feet for the asset management firm, Everside Capital Partners, and 4,000 square feet for the educational technology company, Decoded. Other notable tenants for 10 Grand Central include Benenson Capital Partners, Dennis Publishing’s The Week, ANA, HLTH, Macro Risk Advisors, White Oak Partners, as well as various film production, fintech and private equity firms and companies. Marx Realty is additionally in negotiations with three tenants from the Midtown Seagram Building, who are looking to relocate to 10 Grand Central.
The recently completed building renovations began by relocating the entrance portal to its original location on 44th Street, showcasing its proximity to Grand Central Station. Transformations to the property included redesigning the lobby, four-story entrance portal, marquee, lounge, the Ivy Terrace and a 40-seat conference space. The design team implemented hotel-like amenities, lobby accents of walnut wood, brushed brass and polished concrete, and a 7,500-square-foot indoor/outdoor café and lounge inspired by 1930s design.
Building occupancy has increased from 78% to 91% since the refurbishment project. Asking rents for the tower range from $72 to $120 per square foot.
David Burns, principal of Studios Architecture has led the property’s redesign efforts. Howard Hersch, Sam Seiler, Brett Harvey and Cynthia Wasserberger of JLL are handling the leasing for Marx Realty.
Marx Realty is a New York-based owner, developer and manager of office, retail and multifamily property across the US. A division of Merchants National Properties (MNPP), founded in 1915, Marx Realty holds a current portfolio of more than 5 million square feet of properties.
MassMutual signs lease for new office spaceBy Steve Cuozzo | August 12, 2019 | 10:51pm
MassMutual has signed for 22,000 square feet for 10 years at Marx Realty’s 10 Grand Central, the Ely Jacques Kahn-designed office tower previously known as 708 Third Ave.
It’s the latest advance for the property where Marx recently spent $48 million to move the entrance off the avenue onto East 44th Street and to create a new lobby, lounge, outdoor terrace and conference space. The amenities and luxury finishes are more reminiscent of a hip downtown property than of a once-stodgy East Midtown address.
The MassMutual lease brings the 405,000-square- foot tower to 91 percent occupied, up from 78 percent just one year ago. Recent signings include Agence France-Presse, 23 Capital and Everside Capital Partners.
Only 34,000 square feet are still available. Marx CEO Craig Deitelzweig credited the leasing boom to the building’s “proximity to Grand Central Terminal and game-changing design sensibility.”
Asking rents range from $72 to $120 per square foot.
BOMA New York captures the global stage and prepares for the 2020 Pinnacle AwardsAugust 06, 2019
New York, NY BOMA International presented 17 International TOBY Awards at the annual conference last month. Two NYC buildings returned with the TOBY, beating dozens of buildings from around the globe. The Hearst Tower won “Best Corporate Facility,” owned by the Hearst Corp. and managed by Tishman Speyer Properties. 280 Park Ave. won “Best Renovated Building;” owned by Vornado Realty Trust and SL Green Realty Corp, managed by CBRE.
The International Awards culminate a year-long effort. In order to qualify for an International TOBY, you first have to win a local TOBY Award, followed by a regional TOBY victory. This city-wide achievement marks the second time NYC won two International TOBY Awards – the last time was in 2011.
“TOBY Award winners exemplify leadership and demonstrate best practices for the entire CRE industry,” said Hani Salama, chair and CEO of BOMA NY. “As we congratulate our local megastars on their International TOBY Awards, we look forward to restarting the TOBY process with the BOMA NY Pinnacles.”
The awards recognize quality in properties and reward excellence in building management. BOMA NY unveiled the nominations for the 2020 Pinnacle Awards:
• Renovated Building:
123 William St., CBRE
10 Grand Central, Marx Realty
Marx lands $140M loan for 10 Grand Centralby REW | August 8, 2019
Marx Realty (MNPP) has secured a $140 million loan to refinance its 10 Grand Central office tower located at 155 East 44th Street.
MetLife originated the loan and a Cushman team led by Steve Kohn, Adam Doneger, Mark Ehlinger, and Noble Carpenter III oversaw the assignment on behalf of Marx Realty.
“The refinancing gives us the ability to continue offering best-in-class office spaces for today’s image conscious firms,” said Craig Deitelzweig, president and CEO of Marx Realty.
“Occupancy at 10 Grand Central has increased from 78 percent to 91 percent since we announced our plans last year and we continue to get incredible feedback from brokers as well as existing and potential tenants across financial, technology and business services fields.”
Marx Realty, a New York-based owner, developer and manager of office, retail and multifamily property, recently completed a $48 million repositioning of the 35-story Ely Jacque Kahn-designed building which included a relocated entry portal and redesigned lobby as well as a 7,500 s/f amenity space including a lounge, conference facility and expansive outdoor terrace.
A complete lobby redesign gives tenants and guests a hotel-like experience with uniformed doorman welcoming tenants and guests to the building.
“The recent improvements to 10 Grand Central, coupled with its proximity to Grand Central Terminal, made this financing opportunity of great interest to many potential lenders,” said Steve Kohn, Vice Chairman and President of EDSF for Cushman & Wakefield, who brokered the loan.
“Thanks to the Cushman & Wakefield team’s execution and the repositioning team’s tremendous success in seamlessly incorporating hospitality into the office product, we were able to have a host of lenders to choose from for this long-term loan,” added Deitelzweig.
“We look forward to working with them again as we continue to add value throughout our portfolio.”
A number of new tenants have signed leases recently at 10 Grand Central including health tech company HLTH, international news agency Agence France-Presse, UK-based weekly magazine The Week, sports private equity firm 23 Capital, hedge fund group Macro Risk Advisors, asset management firm Everside Capital Partners, educational technology company Decoded; and private equity firm White Oak Partners.
In addition, Marx Realty secured a 15,000 s/f 10-year renewal for real estate investment firm Benenson Capital Partners and a significant expansion for advertising association powerhouse ANA.