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KKR founders Henry Kravis and George Roberts may be stepping down, but their private equity shop is looking up. Way up. The company just bought a majority stake in the observation deck at Hudson Yards – the tallest outdoor deck in the Western hemisphere – for more than $500 million, property records show. KKR bought the space, called Edge, at the top of 30 Hudson Yards from the Related Companies, according to records. Representatives for KKR and Related confirmed the purchase in a joint statement, adding that “Edge will continue to be managed by the Hudson Yards Experiences team.” The total purchase price was $508.5 million. PincusCo first reported the sale.
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The Durst Organization has a new tenant in One Five One, formerly known as 4 Times Square. Venable LLP, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm, inked a 15-year lease for nearly 158,000 square feet at the office building, according to the New York Post. Venable will occupy floors 48 through 52, in addition to 11,000 square feet in concourse space. Asking rents for the lease at 151 West 42nd Street ranged from $100 to $135 per square foot, the Post reported. The Durst Leasing team was represented by executive vice president Tom Bow, senior managing director Rocco Romeo and associate director Tanya Grimaldo. Venable will be moving from two different offices on Sixth Avenue, increasing its space for its expanding team on the heels of a merger with Fitzpatrick Cella Harper & Scinto. It is expected to make its move during the second half of 2022.
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As the Evergrande crisis continues to unfold in China, one of the country’s largest companies is trying to unload a pricey Manhattan development site — and willing to swallow a big loss. Oceanwide Holdings is looking to sell its development site at the South Street Seaport, where plans for a supertall luxury skyscraper have languished for several years. The developer is seeking to get about $200 million for 80 South Street, sources familiar with the offering told The Real Deal. That’s a significant break from the $390 million Oceanwide paid for the property in 2016, when Chinese capital was rushing into the United States. Since then, Oceanwide has struggled with billions of dollars in investments stateside and is on the verge of being crushed by a mountain of debt. All the while, the Evergrande Group’s $300 billion credit crisis is threatening China’s economy.
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Investors purchased a record amount of commercial real estate in the third quarter, defying warnings that the Covid-19 pandemic would erode these property values and starve the industry of cash. Instead, purchases of apartment buildings, life-science labs and industrial properties, which serve as e-commerce distribution centers, rocketed commercial sales to more than $193 billion in the quarter. That is up 19% compared with the same three months in 2019, before the pandemic, and the biggest quarter for commercial property sales ever, according to data firm Real Capital Analytics. Sales activity for the first nine months of this year totaled $462.1 billion, up 10% from the same nine-month period in 2019 and the highest ever for the first three quarters of any year, Real Capital Analytics said.
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