AXA Financial is heading to the Jersey City, NJ, waterfront, but is also recommitting to the city.
The insurance giant signed a 13-year deal at 1290 Avenue of the Americas for 450,000 feet of its current space.
“They got an immediate rent arbitrage benefit and are hedging their future rents in New York City,” said broker Scott Panzer of Newmark Knight Frank, who is repping Axa.
Asking rents in Jersey City are $39 a foot, while the city space was being marketed for $85 a foot.
As The Post reported on Friday, AXA next year will move as many as 850 employees to nearly 240,000 feet to 525 Washington St., a 1 million-foot tower owned by Brookfield Properties.
On the New Jersey deal, Panzer’s NKF teammates Deborah Vanderheyden and Steve Rotter represented Axa, while Brookfield had the Cushman & Wakefield team of Ed Duenas and Kevin Daly.
On the 1290 deal, building owner Vornado represented itself.
Coincidentally, nearly 150,000 feet of Axa’s current 800,000 feet at 1290, also known as the Equitable building, is expected to be filled by Cushman & Wakefield, which is currently negotiating to move its headquarters from BlackRock at 51 W. 52nd St.
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Three buildings along West 25th Street in the Chelsea arts-gallery area were just sold to Halcyon Real Estate Investors and Cardinal Real Estate Investment for $97.5 million.
The red brick buildings at 511-519, 521-539 and 541-543 West 25th Street were owned by 511 W. 25th Street Corp., which also operated some mini-storage.
Stuart Siegel and Alan Weisman of Grubb & Ellis, who also represent the Chelsea Arts Tower next door to the west, represented both entities.
These former Whitehall storage properties are now a mix of storage, galleries and offices and will be upgraded with the mini-storage eliminated.
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Celebrity florist Oliver Giugni, owner of L’Olivier Floral Atelier, which creates dramatic floral arrangements for clients like Leonardo DiCaprio is planting office and showroom space at 37 W. 17th St.
Elliot Warren of the Kaufman Organization helped the tenant find the Moinian Group’s building, which was repped in-house by Kimia Shadrokh and Daniel Gohari.
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Lots of news out of Eastern Consolidated.
The John Varvatos store at 122 Spring St. on the corner of Wooster Street was sold for $12.5 million to a private 1031 buyer.
The store has 2,600 feet on grade and 2,600 in the basement, making the price an astounding $4,800 a foot based on the ground floor footage.
A gaggle of Eastern Consolidated brokers worked on the deal, with Eric Anton and Ron Solarz representing the ownership, and Dan Glaser and Sam Schneider working for the buyer.
Anton and Solarz are also selling 148 and 150 Spring Street between Wooster and West Broadway.
The total 14,800 rentable feet is expected to sell for over $20 million.
Additionally, the Italian watchmaker Breil signed a lease for about 1,600 square feet to house its flagship first US store at 148 Spring St. on the ground floor.
The building and the tenant are represented by Cushman & Wakefield, with Andrew Kahn representing the tenant in this deal and David Tricarico working for the current owners.
Anton and Solarz, along with colleague David Schechtman are marketing a Hudson Yards property with bids due March 5.
