This Week’s N.Y. Deal Sheet: Hobby Lobby To Open First Manhattan Store

Hobby Lobby is opening its first Manhattan store after the arts and crafts retailer signed a huge lease in Tribeca.

270 Greenwich St., where Hobby Lobby is slated to open its first Manhattan store.

The store has agreed to take 70K SF at 270 Greenwich St., according to a quarterly retail report from JLL. The two-story, 236K SF retail condominium is owned by Edward J. Minskoff Equities, which developed the space and the 35-story luxury building that sits atop the podium. 

Hobby Lobby joins Whole Foods as a tenant in the building a few blocks from the World Trade Center, and the arts and crafts chain fills space previously occupied by Barnes & Noble, Crain’s New York Business reported. 

The landlord was repped by Ripco Real Estate’s Peter Ripka, sources told Bisnow. JLL and Ripco declined to comment. The deal is Hobby Lobby’s second in the five boroughs after debuting in Staten Island in 2023 with a lease for 43K SF.

TOP LEASES

Elliott Investment Management is expanding its New York City footprint, signing a 149K SF lease at SL Green Realty and Vornado Realty Trust’s 280 Park Ave., The Real Deal reported. The hedge fund is subleasing 126K SF of the space from asset manager Franklin Templeton until 2031 and will then enter into a direct lease for five years. Elliot also signed a direct 12-year lease for the remaining 23K SF. The deal is part of Elliott Investment Management’s NYC expansion after it relocated its headquarters to West Palm Beach, Florida, during the pandemic. Neil Goldmacher and Chris Mongeluzo of Newmark brokered the deal for the tenant, while the landlord had in-house representation from Edward Riguardi and Alexandra Bedell. Cushman & Wakefield’s Robert Lowe represented Franklin Templeton.

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Business marketplace platform Tradeweb Markets signed a 76K SF lease at SL Green’s 245 Park Ave., the landlord announced. Tradeweb will relocate from Silverstein Properties’ 1177 Sixth Ave. for the 15-year lease, the New York Post reported. Asking rents were $145 per SF. The deal brings 245 Park to 87% leased after SL Green took it over from a bankrupt affiliate of HNA Group. JLL’s David Kleiner, Michael Berg, Will McGarry and Finley Burger repped Tradeweb, and Patrick Murphy, Bruce Mosler, Tara Stacom, Harry Blair, Ron Lo Russo, Justin Royce, Pierce Hance and Will Yeatman of Cushman & Wakefield repped SL Green, Commercial Observer reported.

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Willow Tree Credit Partners signed an 11K SF lease for the full 29th floor of SL Green’s 450 Park Ave., Commercial Observer reported. Willow Tree’s five-year deal at the 33-story tower is a relocation from 640 Fifth Ave. Asking rents were $165 per SF. Willow Tree didn’t use brokers, according to CO, and SL Green’s Howard Tenenbaum and Gary Rosen repped the landlord in-house. Other tenants in the building include investment companies Garnett Station Partners, BlueCrest Capital Management and Dubin & Co. 

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Thor Equities has signed two new leases at 25 W. 39th St., bringing the 16-story, 210K SF building to 100% occupancy, according to a spokesperson. Art collective Tin Drum signed for 14K SF on the 10th floor, while boutique hotel chain citizenM signed a 12K SF office lease. Both leases were for five years, and citizenM is relocating its New York office from 149 Madison Ave., Commercial Observer reported. 

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Two Trees Management Co. has signed coworking startup Framework to 8K SF at its Domino Refinery redevelopment, Crain’s reported. The coworking company is expected to open in the Williamsburg property in the fall and has the option to expand to 16K SF. This will be Framework’s second location, with its first in Clinton Hill at 285 Greene Ave. 

TOP SALES

180 Maiden Lane, which 99c acquired this week for $297M.

A recently redeveloped office asset in Manhattan’s financial district has traded for $297M in a short sale, Commercial Observer reported. Clarion Partners and MHP Real Estate sold the 1.2M SF property at 180 Maiden Lane for less than the value of its debt after buying it for $450M in 2015. 99c, a firm owned by Canadian biotech entrepreneur Carlo Bellini, said it is the purchaser of the property after it snapped up 175 Water St. for $252M in 2022.

The blue-glass office tower at 180 Maiden is 68% occupied by tenants including debt consolidator National Debt Relief and insurance company Cover Whale. ING Capital provided a $372M loan to Clarion and MHP, but the loan matured last year. Rather than go through a foreclosure, the lender and owners agreed to sell the building for far less than the balance left on the loan. Gary Phillips and Will Silverman of Eastdil Secured arranged the sale. 

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The New School has sold its property at 300 W. 20th St. to Hawkins Way Capital for $30M, CO reported. The New School has used the seven-story residential building as 122 units of student housing, with 200 beds in the space. The building is expected to remain as student housing under new ownership. Doug Middleton and Jack Stillwagon of CBRE arranged the deal. A separate part of the building is a retail condo with a different owner and wasn’t included in the deal. 

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SL Green has sold a retail property, including signage, at 719 Seventh Ave. for $32.5M, according to property records. The buyers were Boich Investment Group and former SL Green President Andrew Mathias, acting via a special-purpose entity, PincusCo reported. SL Green disclosed the deal in its most recent corporate filings this spring but listed an expected price of $30.5M. The deal has been in negotiation since April, and Mathias, who remains a director at SL Green, won’t receive any payments as part of the transaction, according to the filing.

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33 Equities has acquired 1039 E. Gun Hill Road in the Williamsbridge neighborhood of the Bronx for $27M, PincusCo reported. RBA Developers sold the seven-floor, 79-unit residential building to 33 Equities, which funded its purchase with a $20M loan from Israel Discount Bank. The property was a one-story retail building when RBA bought it in 2021 and developed apartments, Commercial Observer reported. The buyer, run by Zach Hering and Tucker Shane, also recently made other purchases in the Bronx, including a $19.8M deal for 1988 Anthony Ave., a 61-unit property in Tremont, The Real Deal previously reported. It also spent $20M for a 20-unit building at 203 Spring St. in SoHo. 

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Bando Engineering and Construction, a South Korea-based company, has acquired its first NYC property, CO reported. Bando bought a retail condominium at 2 Times Square for roughly $100M. The property has restaurant chain Olive Garden as its anchor tenant and also has Van Leeuwen Ice Cream and Sardinha Portuguesa among its tenants. It was developed by Sherwood Properties, which owned it for almost four decades before the sale. Adam Spies, Adam Doneger, Marcella Fasulo, Avery Silverstein and Meaghan Philbin of Newmark brokered the deal.

TOP FINANCING

The William Vale Hotel, where EOS Hospitality scored a $230.2M loan this week.

EOS Hospitality has signed a $230.2M loan for the William Vale hotel in Williamsburg, Crain’s reported. The sum for the property at 111 N. 12th St. came from Apollo Global Management. EOS acquired the hotel for $177M in a bankruptcy sale after years of legal battles between its previous owners, Yoel Goldman and Zelig Weiss.

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Extell Development has refinanced 50 W. 66th St. to the tune of $1.2B across multiple loans, swapping out its previous lender, Bank OZK, Commercial Observer reported. The new financing is broken down into a $620M mortgage and a mezzanine loan, as first reported by PincusCo, in addition to a third loan component that is linked to future funding for construction. The lender is JVP Management, which previously supplied a $207M mezzanine loan on the 69-story property. The 127-unit luxury condo project originally had an $800M construction loan from Bank OZK. JVP Management was assigned at least $840M in construction financing by Bank OZK in the new financing round. 

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The Hudson Cos. and St. Nicks Alliance scored a $235M loan for the second phase of 89 Maspeth Ave., a 311-unit, 100% affordable housing development in Williamsburg, according to a release. The development is expected to start construction this summer and deliver by 2027. Units will be reserved for New Yorkers making between 30% and 80% of the area median income. The funding comes from the Housing Development Corp., the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the New York State Research and Development Authority, the New York City Energy Efficiency Corp., Capital One Bank and the Bank of New York.  

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Georgica Green Ventures and RiseBoro Community Partnership signed a $165M construction loan for 2015 Boardwalk West in Coney Island, PincusCo reported. Georgica and RiseBoro acquired the site, which has an active filing for a 205-unit housing development, from Safehold for $10.4M. The construction loan comes from the New York State Housing Finance Agency and the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

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Trimont has agreed to lend $195M to ASAP Holdings to refinance the New York LaGuardia Airport Marriott, PincusCo reported. The sum replaces a $55.4M loan on the property from Bridge Investment Group. It covers two properties, 102-05 Ditmars Blvd. and a surface parking lot nearby.

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Atlas Capital Group, Baupost Group and Zeckendorf Development notched a $142.8M construction loan from Citibank for a 175-unit affordable senior housing property at 570 Washington St. in the West Village, PincusCo reported. 

CORRECTION, JULY 10, 12:45 P.M. ET: A previous version of this story misstated the address of a Silverstein Properties office building and how many locations coworking firm Framework will have. The article has been updated.