BROADPOINT Gleacher Se curities Group is consolidating and expanding into 75,000 square feet at 1290 Avenue of the Americas with an eye to expanding that space to several hundred thousand feet.
The firm is currently spread out in 67,000 feet scattered among One Penn Plaza, Tower 49 at 12 E. 49th St. and 660 Madison Ave.
To make the leasing deal, Vornado Realty Trust agreed to transfer the tenant’s obligation at One Penn Plaza to its 2 million-foot building at 1290. Then off-market spaces on parts of 1290’s 110,000-foot base floors were made available.
A new central reception area will tie a new trading floor on the rear of the fifth floor with the firm’s office functions in the front of the fourth floor, which can accommodate many perimeter offices.
The asking rent was in the mid-$50s a foot, and the length of the lease is a 15-year deal plus options.
The growing financial services tenant also will have access to backup power and other critical functions that it needs to operate its banking services, said Matthew Astrachan of Cushman & Wakefield, who led the tenant’s team along with Mitti Liebersohn and Steven Bauer.
C&W colleagues Paul Glickman, Alex Chudnoff, Franklin Speyer and Amy Fox, along with Glen Weiss of Vornado, represented the owner group, which includes Donald Trump.
Broadpoint Gleacher’s seven-year lease for about 16,000 feet at Tower 49 space will be subleased.
Although the participants started working on the transaction last spring, once all the issues were solved, they zoomed from term sheet to signed deal in three weeks, said Astrachan.
*
W&H Properties’ One Grand Central Place has just leased three floors near the top of the 55-story building.
Private-equity firm Pine Brook Road Partners leased 17,632 feet that’s comprised of the entire 49th floor and part of the 50th floor of the building located at 60 E. 42nd St.
The deal followed 10 months of intense negotiations involving seven parties.
Meanwhile, law firm Vandenberg & Feliu leased the entire 51st floor of about 13,000 feet. The asking rent was $65 for both spaces.
Larry Zuckerman and Dan Gronich of Grubb & Ellis worked for Pine Brook, which is moving from 100 Park Ave.
Robert Frost and Andrew Weiss of Signature Partners repped the law firm, which had been located at nearby 110 E. 42nd St.
Newmark Knight Frank’s William Cohen, Ryan Kass and Alison Coffey, along with W&H’s own Fred Posniak, repped the building.
*
A group led by ABS Partners Real Estate has bought three income-producing garages in Upper Manhattan for $10.5 million from sellers Larry Loeb and Darryl Mallah of Icon Parking and their partners Harvey Ravner and Martin Levine.
Although the deal took a year to finalize because of market conditions, it came together Friday with a simultaneous contract and closing. The ABS team was also able to assume the existing mortgage by providing additional equity.
The garages include a two-story, 78-space location at 550 W. 174th St., and the 171-space, three- story site at 528 W. 162 St., both of which are near Columbia Presbyterian Hospi tal, and the 176-space, six-story garage at 284 Audubon Ave. near Yeshiva University.
Anne DeMarzo and Howard Greenberg represented Icon, while Steve Hornstock, Gregg Schenker and Earle Altman worked in- house for ABS.
*
Brokerages are reporting third-quarter results that reflect a busier but cheaper market.
While the city’s vacancy rate is 11.1 percent overall, “We think direct vacancy will continue to go up because as people move, they are not taking that much more space and are leaving a little behind,” said Joe Harbert of Cushman & Wakefield.
Average rental rates have trended down from $84.48 to $63.53 in Midtown, with subleases at $55.68 and direct space at $72.03 a foot. Current averages are $47.98 in Midtown South and $42.01 downtown.
*
Newmark Knight Frank has been appointed to take over the leasing of 100 Church St.
The 1.08 million-foot building across from Ground Zero is being transferred through a technical foreclosure from the Sapir Organization to SL Green Realty Trust.
CB Richard Ellis had been representing the granite building where, according to CoStar Group, more than 666,000 feet is available.
Over the summer, a critical 100,000-foot lease negotiated for the Claremont School fell apart when the lender would not approve it, setting the stage for the SL Green takeover.
NKF’s Jimmy Kuhn, Brian Waterman, Lance Korman and Hal Stein will be the leasing agents for the building.
