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Newmark Group recently rejected a takeover offer from rival Cushman & Wakefield. Newmark was not interested in the deal, in part because Cushman carries a high debt load, sources with knowledge of the offer told Bloomberg News. Cushman has about $3.8 billion in debt, which is larger than its market capitalization of roughly $2.6 billion. “Cushman & Wakefield has certainly benefited from ongoing consolidation as a leader in our industry, but we won’t comment on this, or any, market rumor,” Cushman spokesperson Brad Kreiger told Bloomberg in a statement.
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Technology companies leased 30 million square feet of new office space in New York last year, the most of any industry. But some of that space may soon be coming back on the market. More than half of U.S. technology firms are considering surrendering part of their office space in response to the pandemic, according to a survey of 250 companies from a global real estate brokerage. About 82% of the tech companies surveyed anticipate they will need less office space than initially planned for the next year and a half. That is despite only 8% of the firms saying they will reduce their headcount because of the pandemic. Companies are planning instead to shift portions of their staff to full-time remote work.
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The pandemic has caused problems for many, but it couldn’t be truer for property owners. With business strapped for cash, many have failed to pay rent during this pandemic or have paid partial rent. This has resulted in property owners struggling to keep their buildings in the green. In order to keep things going, owners all around have looked at refinancing their buildings to stay above water. One company, Silverstein Properties has closed on a $171 million refinancing deal for an office building in Midtown. Greystone originates a 289MM Freddie Mac refinance on their midtown residential tower while a building in Williamsburg gets a 41MM bridge loan after Brooklyn Boulders bail. This is only a few of the many examples and we will only see more to come.
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Industrial properties remained a rare bright spot for New York's beleaguered real estate industry during the third quarter, with leasing activity surging by more than 70%, according to a new report. The sector saw more than 2.2 million square feet of leasing activity during the most recent quarter, and the availability rate and average asking rent stayed virtually the same at 8% and $22.98 per square foot, the report said. This was in part because of e-commerce companies making major commitments to the city. Staten Island was the borough that saw the most leasing activity during the third quarter. This was almost entirely because of Ikea taking 975,000-square-foot lease in the borough’s Matrix Global Logistics Park, which was the largest industrial lease of the quarter.