Secaucus, N.J.-based Syms, owner of clothing retailer Filene’s Basement, may be pulling out of plans to lease 34,000 square feet at Crown Acquisitions’ 530 Fifth Avenue because of cash flow problems, Crain’s reported.

The retailer inked a deal for the space last summer, and was scheduled to open in the building, between 44th and 45th streets, this fall, alongside other newcomers like Urban Outfitters, Joe Fresh and Guess. The deal was brokered by Lansco. “It’s a large space and a challenge, but it’s a Fifth Avenue presence,” said Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of retail leasing at Prudential Douglas Elliman, who was not involved in the deal. “The corridor is ripe for discount or affordable fashion,” she noted, adding that Syms has “more headaches than you know.” [more]

Clockwise from top left: Rockwood Capital CEO Edmond Kavounas, Crown Acquisitions CEO Stanley Chera, 530 Fifth Avenue, Murray Hill Properties CEO Norman Sturner and Jamestown Properties managing director Matt BronfmanA partnership of Jamestown Properties and Rockwood Capital is providing equity to Murray Hill Properties and Crown Acquisitions for their previously reported $390 million purchase of 530 Fifth Avenue. The Wall Street Journal reported Jamestown and Rockwood will be the controlling equity holders.

The four firms are putting about $200 million in equity into the purchase and taking out about $220 million in debt. Crown is slated to manage leasing the retail space in the building, which is occupied by Fossil Store and LensCrafters, and will soon be home to a Syms. [more]

From left: Brothers Meyer Chetrit and Joseph Chetrit; Moinian Group CEO Joseph Moinian; Murray Hill Properties CEO Norman Sturner and 530 Fifth Avenue

Crown Acquisitions and Murray Hill Properties have partnered to purchase 530 Fifth Avenue for $390 million from the Chetrit Group and the Moinian Group, the Wall Street Journal reported. The 26-story, 500,000-square-foot building between 44th and 45th streets was bought for $210 million by Joseph Moinian and the Chetrit family in 2004.

The building has 21,790 square feet of retail space on Fifth Avenue, currently occupied by LensCrafters, Chase bank and Fossil. This summer Moinian and the Chetrits expanded the retail space to include part of the second floor in order to accommodate forthcoming tenant Syms. [more]

Highgate Hotels, Crown Acquisitions and the Carlyle Group have bought 170 Broadway between Liberty Street and Maiden Lande for more than $100 million, Crain’s reported. They plan to to turn the 108 year old, 18-story office building, that they acquired from AMG Realty Partners, which is part of GE Capital, into a hotel. Neither of the participants in the deal had an immediate comment. Lower Manhattan has had significant hotel growth recently, Crain’s noted, with at least seven other hotels currently in development in the area. Tourism continues to be strong, although room and occupancy rates are still down from their highs in 2008. This project marks the first time the three firms are working together. [more]

Stephanie Snyder, a tenacious broker who helped create the retail leasing arm of Crown Acquisitions but was equally known for a stylishness honed in the fashion magazine world, died Sept. 3 at age 38.

On Aug. 31, Snyder had a heart attack while riding in a taxi to her Upper East Side apartment, according to her sister, Jennifer Snyder, 36. She slipped into a coma, Jennifer added, and died five days later.

The cause of the heart attack is still under investigation, said Ellen Borokove, a spokesperson for the city’s chief medical examiner’s office. But Snyder had no obvious health problems and was an avid runner and swimmer, ate well and practiced yoga, Jennifer said.

“She was just a very generous, upbeat, full-of-life girl,” Jennifer said. “We are all just still in shock.” [more]

A new tenant for the high-profile Takashimaya building at 693 Fifth Avenue will likely pay a ground-floor rent higher than the $2,000 per square foot that Swatch recently signed for in a space nearby, property owner Joseph Sitt, chairman and CEO of Thor Equities, said in an interview with Insights from The Real Deal (see video above).

Swiss-based Swatch inked a 15-year deal that starts at about $2,000 per square foot in the retail condo at 666 Fifth Avenue owned by Carlyle Group, Kushner Companies and Crown Acquisitions.

Sitt said there was “no question” he would get rents in the range of $2,500 per square foot. He added there were six tenants looking seriously at the space in the 20-story building.

In addition, Robert Knakal, chairman of commercial brokerage Massey Knakal Realty Services, told Insights that the first quarter sales for retail property in Manhattan nearly reached the $586 million figure for all of 2010. [more]

Swiss watch retailer Swatch signed a 15-year lease today valued at $80 million for the
remaining 2,000-square-foot ground-floor retail space in the commercial condominium
at 666 Fifth Avenue owned by a joint venture of the Carlyle Group, Kushner Companies
and Crown Acquisitions, sources close to the deal said.
The rent for the space with a 20-foot wide frontage squeezed between Hollister and
Uniqlo, was approximately $2,000 per square foot, the source said. Bradley Mendelson, a
top retail broker at Cushman & Wakefield, represented the landlord. [more]

In one of the city’s largest-ever retail condominium deals, Spain’s Inditex Group has agreed to pay $324 million to purchase 32,000 square feet at 666 Fifth Avenue for a new flagship Zara store, the company announced today. The space, formerly an NBA store, is roughly one-third of the 90,000 square feet purchased by Stanley Chera’s Crown Acquisitions, the Carlyle Group and Kushner Companies for $525 million in 2008, according to the Wall Street Journal, which originally broke the news of the deal. The rest, which is currently leased by Uniqlo and Hollister, is also on the market. The purchase price for the Zara space includes the buyout of the remaining time on the NBA’s lease, which sources said had less than three years before its expiration. Uniqlo’s lease at 666 Fifth last year, in which it agreed to pay $300 million over 15 years, was among the city’s most expensive retail leases ever. [WSJ]

By Yaffi Spodek, Candace Taylor and Amy Tennery

After a mid-winter lull, The Real Deal is back in the swing of things, hitting up the week’s most exciting real estate events. We quizzed the experts at the Young Jewish Professional’s networking event, including Ilan Bracha, the New York Keller Williams franchise honcho who recently defected from Prudential Douglas Elliman, Crown Acquisitions CEO Stanley Chera, and Charles Bendit, the Taconic Investment Partners CEO, whose company recently sealed a $1.8 billion deal with Google. Also, we mingled at Soho rental building 55 Thompson’s cocktail mixer and caught up with Elizabeth Stribling, founder of Stribling & Associates, at the Brooklyn Roundtable, where she gave us the scoop on her move out of Manhattan. Click here to see more. [more]

Merged discount retailers Filene’s Basement/Syms have signed on to open a 40,000-square-foot store in early 2012 at Eli Gindi and Stanley Chera’s newly-acquired 490 Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn. Terms of the deal were undisclosed, but according to the Post, ground-floor asking rents on the Fulton Mall have been around $250 to $300 per square foot. Chera said that the Fulton Mall building, which he bought through his Crown Acquisitions earlier this year for over $60 million, has attracted “a lot of national tenants,” and that 80,000 square feet of retail space remains unclaimed. Long Island University is turning the top three floors into student housing. This isn’t the only new Filene’s/Syms store on the horizon: the brands are also opening a store called fbSY on Fifth Avenue at 43rd Street in Manhattan next spring. [Post]

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