JCPenney just got a fair and square deal of its own with a lease for all 130,000 square feet of 200 Lafayette St. at Broome Street.
The move is designed to attract a hip workforce and continue the corporate culture shake-up under relatively new CEO and former Apple executive Ron Johnson.
“They will build out a spectacular rooftop deck,” said our SoHo spy.
The fate of the 11,500-square-foot retail space being marketed by Susan Kurland of CBRE is still under discussion. A CapitalOne branch is in the building, which is otherwise vacant and being renovated.
Kurland did not return calls for comment, although she worked on the office deal along with leasing agents David Falk, Jason Greenstein and Daniel Levine of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, who also declined comment through a spokeswoman.
The SoHo building was snapped up by Jared Kushner and CIM Group in January for $50 million from John Zaccaro, who was the husband of the late vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro.
Marketing brochures say the new owners are doling out $30 million more to upgrade every corner of the seven-story building and its numerous arched windows. Kushner and CIM did not return calls for comment, and JCP declined comment via e-mail.
While others saw residential condos, Kushner, from his experience with the nearby Puck Building, had an eye on renovating the loft building and renting updated offices to the techies being drawn to Midtown South.
Indeed, Falk, who spoke at Bisnow’s Silicon Alley Real Estate Summit yesterday without revealing the tenant, said they were conducting about seven space tours a week before a lease went out for the entire building.
Sources said the fully signed 15-year lease took just 45 days to complete and had an asking rent of about $68 a square foot. The net effective rent will be less as Penney will be responsible for all expenses, including property taxes that are running now at about $280,000 a year.
Among the companies that kicked the sandy-colored bricks were Restoration Hardware, Facebook, Armani and ad agency Droga5, which has 23,000 square feet at 400 Lafayette St. and is growing rapidly.
Penney was headquartered in New York from 1914 until they fled to Dallas in 1987, and sold their 1.5 million square-foot tower at 1301 Sixth Ave.
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Savanna has quietly picked up the long-term leasehold on dusty 576 Fifth Ave. by buying a $7.4 million foreclosed mortgage and cutting deals with the fee owner and prior leaseholder. No price was recorded.
In keeping with the area, the 72,000 square-foot building on the southwest corner of West 47th Street is set with tiny diamond and jewelry merchants.
Savanna intends to pour millions of dollars into polishing the 1906 gem with a facade restoration, fixing or replacing windows, a new roof and elevators, along with lobby, corridor and bathroom renovations.
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The three most powerful women in city real estate — two of them sisters who work for different companies — led the teams that walked away with top prizes at last night’s Real Estate Board of New York Salesbrokers cocktail party, with the city’s now highest tower, One World Trade Center, as the centerpiece of two of the most ingenious deals of 2011.
Tara Stacom and Michael Rotchford of Cushman & Wakefield won the first prize Henry Hart Rice Award for “Transforming a White Elephant Into a Precious Jewel: The Leasing of 1 World Trade Center” by representing the Port Authority in its partnerships with Silverstein Properties and the Durst family in the deal with Condé Nast.
The brokers on other side of that lease, Mary Ann Tighe and Gregory Tosko of CBRE, picked up the second-place Robert T. Lawrence Award for representing Condé in its transformative 1.1 million square-foot commitment to One World Trade Center.
“The transformation of Ground Zero to 1 World Trade Center holds historic weight and will be remembered for restoring confidence back in the city,” said REBNY President Steven Spinola in a statement.
Stacom’s sister, Darcy Stacom, led a CBRE team that included William Shanahan and Paul Gillen in the sale of the office condominium at 2 Gotham Center in Queens to win the third-place Edward S. Gordon Award.
Check out more about the 13 nominated deals in the March Commercial Real Estate Special.
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DKNY has renewed and extended the lease for its 17,776 square-foot flagship at 655 Madison Ave. The early renewal will keep the luxury retailer there through 2024.
Laura Pomerantz and John Brod of PBS Real Estate represented DKNY in the deal, while Andrew Roos and Michael Cohen of Colliers International worked for the building ownership.
“They had a five-year option exercisable last year, but they wanted a longer commitment so they could reinvest in the store,” Roos said of the transaction for the triplex space. As part of the work, DKNY will also recapture the now “outside” corner of its store.
The Jones Group’s Brian Atwood is also taking over the former Nine West space for its flagship.
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Expanding online retailer Ideeli has leased the entire third floor of 23,500 square feet at 1385 Broadway in Times Square South, where the company will move its photographic unit this fall after being crammed into a much smaller space at 148 Lafayette St. in Soho.
Leon Manoff and Jason Lund of Colliers International represented the company, which has 5.5 million members enjoying daily deals.
Cushman & Wakefield Vice Chairman Jonathan Serko, Gary Greenspan, Diana Gaines and David Malawer represented the building, with asking rents of $39 to $45 a square foot. It is owned by an affiliate of Bloomingdale Properties, which just completed $55 million in renovations.
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QUICKIES: RetailMLS.com is now beta-live for approved registered users with a monthly listing charge to start in 2013, founder Ben Zises says.
By the fall, he says, the public will get free access, because “if you are a mom-and-pop or a restaurant [without a broker], you are left walking the streets.” … Grubb & Ellis Vice Chairman Dan Gronich, along with colleagues Barrett Stern and Larry Zuckerman, have formally signed with Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. … Kenneth Hochhauser left Newmark and has joined the retail-only Winick Realty Group. … G&E’s Yoav Elsner has landed at Jones Lang LaSalle.
(Dana Sauchelli)
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