A tangled web of stakes in 292 Madison Ave. has now been consolidated by the Marciano brothers of Guess jeans, who also own half the iconic Lipstick Building at 885 Third Ave.
Back in June of 2007, SL Green Realty Corp. sold the operating leasehold on 292 Madison to the Marcianos and Jacob Abikzer’s Metropolitan Real Estate Advisors for $140 million. A separate deal with SLG got the same group their Lipstick stake for $648.5 million.
At the end of 2010, SLG purchased the ground, aka the “fee,” under the 292 office building from Gramercy Capital for $78,044,000, which included taking over the mortgage. Last week, the Marcianos bought the fee from SLG for $85 million and took over the $59,098,946 mortgage. This deal was marketed by Eastdil Secured’s ace investment team of Douglas Harmon and Adam Spies.
In 2010, Eastdil sold the Bank of Scotland’s $60 million note on the leasehold interest to JEMB’s Morris Bailey and his son-in-law, Joseph Jerome, and that was paid off by the Marcianos last year.
The Marcianos also bought Metropolitan’s share of 292, although that company retains its involvement in the Lipstick Building.
Gerald Nocera of Herald Square Properties, who was formerly president of SLG, is now 292 Madison’s asset manager. He is overseeing the capital investments in the lobby, common areas and pre-builts, along with the leasing of the 187,000 square-foot building at the southwest corner of 41st Street.
In fact, FiftyOne Global Ecommerce has just snagged a two-floor, 17,148 square-foot office to be pre-built in a contemporary design by the Mufson Partnership.
The Ecommerce tenant, which will move from 8 W. 40th St., was represented by Wendy Miller of Cassidy Turley. The new two full floors of offices will include 11,113 square feet on the fifth and 6,035 square feet on the 17th floor. The asking rents are $55 a square foot.
“The floors were under construction, and we made de minimis changes to accommodate their specific use,” said William Cohen of Newmark Knight Frank, who, along with Ryan Kass, represents the building.
***
Cohen and Kass of NKF are also the agents for the Empire State Building, which is getting some investigative muscle as the former FBI boss Louis Freeh is moving his law firm, Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan, to the Fifth Avenue and 34th Street skyscraper.
Freeh, who is the Chapter 11 trustee for the formerly Jon Corzine-led MF Global Holdings bankruptcy, will be sniffing out its assets from a 5,400 square-foot pre-built on the 31st floor of the tower.
The firm is relocating from 1185 Ave. of the Americas this week in a deal negotiated by the Cushman & Wakefield team of Joseph Fabrizi, Bill Lee and David Malawer. The W&H Properties ownership had an asking rent of $49 a square foot.
“The conversions from showings to proposals and leases continues to amaze me,” said Cohen of the pace of the Empire deal. “We keep breaking out floors of pre-builts and are working on several single-floor leases,” he said.
***
The owners of a hotel being developed on West 35th Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues with an entrance on West 34th Street are negotiating with at least five different companies to flag what will be a 200,000 square foot 39-story inn with 330 rooms.
Designed by SRA Architecture & Engineering, the hotel will sit on a 35th Street parcel that was tied up by the MTA before the agency released it back to the ownership.
The owner-group consists of Bobby Cayre’s Aurora Capital, his cousin Alex Adjmi,Michael Cayre’s Midtown Equities and Jack Dushey of Jenel Management.
While waiting for the MTA, the group developed a four-story, 61,600-square-foot retail box on the 34th Street side of the parcel at 215 W. 34th St. That building is all filled up, with a 37,000-square-foot DSW that sprawls over several floors, a 7,500-square-foot ground-floor Joe Fresh and a 5,100-square-foot ground-floor Payless Shoe Source.
CoStar shows street-level asking rents at $350 a square foot.
Party City has also just subleased 11,865 square feet that was slated to become a Duane Reade. Winick Realty handled the subleasing while Matt Ogle of SRS Real Estate represented Party City in this deal.
The hotel will have use of the roof of the retail for a 10,000-square-foot lobby terrace. Along with a “name” gym, there will be banquet space and a restaurant, while a rooftop bar will cap the project.
“You partner with a great brand that has a strong reservations system, so it’s less speculative, and you are off to the races,” said Jared Epstein of Aurora Capital, who declined to name the brands.
One hotel that is bouncing and yet to land in town is Richard Branson’s upstart Virgin Hotels, which has already opened in Chicago.
“We have a unique point of view on a product, so we are unlikely to just throw the flag up,” said Anthony Marino, Virgin’s CEO, who also declined to discuss specific locations. “We’re set up to manage hotels and be the operator and the brand, but also set up to participate in the real estate, too.”
Virgin’s $500 million war chest is targeting 150-to-400-room contemporary four-star hotels with communal space and a signature restaurant for its upscale travelers.
With more than 200 brands, Marino added, “in many ways, the hotels are the glue that ties the businesses together.”
Did we mention we love the new ads for Virgin Mobile with the child-Bransons all sporting beards? Will the hotels give out play beards? Stay tuned.
***
The Carlyle Group is expanding its investment activities within 520 Madison Ave. The DC-based firm is adding 23,411 square feet to total approximately 123,000 square feet on floors 38 to 43. Sources said the Plaza District building had an asking rent of $138 a square foot.
Newmark Knight Frank’s Neil Goldmacher, Brian Goldman and Dan Madison represented Carlyle, while building owner Tishman Speyer Properties represented itself in-house.
***
Italian jeweler Ippolita is replacing Damiani at 796 Madison Ave. between East 67th and East 68th streets next door to the newly opened Cesare Attolini.
The tiny store is 500 square feet and had an asking rent of $1,100 a square foot, with the final deal breaking $1,000 per foot.
Laura Pomerantz of PBS Real Estate negotiated for the jeweler’s first city store, while Brad Siderow of The Siderow Organization represented the Parkoff Organization ownership.