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March, what now seems like a lifetime ago, was a banner month for investment sales in New York City. That’s when two $900 million-plus office building sales helped propel total deal volume to over $4 billion, the third-highest sum in the past 12 months.
But that data still largely reflected a pre-Covid world, because of the lag between closings and property record filings, as well as the pipeline of deals that were already in the works.
In April, commercial real estate deals fell to $708 million in deals recorded, down 75 percent from the 12-month rolling average, according to an analysis of property records by The Real Deal. The market continued to slow into May, as deal volume plummeted to $551 million.
Investment Sales Dollar Volume by Borough, Past 12 Months
| Month | Manhattan | Brooklyn | Queens | Bronx | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun '19 | $3,488,826,980 | $491,583,486 | $404,936,585 | $228,998,365 | $4,614,345,416 |
| Jul '19 | $2,055,831,903 | $635,526,295 | $225,712,596 | $231,303,826 | $3,148,374,620 |
| Aug '19 | $994,568,763 | $549,667,829 | $163,006,097 | $248,431,610 | $1,955,674,299 |
| Sep '19 | $2,467,687,345 | $778,870,723 | $362,069,402 | $109,441,020 | $3,718,068,490 |
| Oct '19 | $2,830,091,040 | $567,269,046 | $472,470,411 | $121,591,497 | $3,991,421,994 |
| Nov '19 | $1,542,481,247 | $502,925,947 | $643,464,996 | $99,568,914 | $2,788,441,104 |
| Dec '19 | $2,944,526,061 | $793,378,103 | $479,708,549 | $123,976,948 | $4,341,589,661 |
| Jan '20 | $1,192,344,089 | $946,933,659 | $287,534,737 | $258,234,091 | $2,685,046,576 |
| Feb '20 | $941,738,457 | $616,060,878 | $278,359,927 | $159,804,440 | $1,995,963,702 |
| Mar '20 | $3,354,998,451 | $357,237,114 | $286,574,234 | $189,028,549 | $4,187,838,348 |
| Apr '20 | $363,761,356 | $200,824,488 | $79,913,561 | $63,843,667 | $708,343,072 |
| May '20 | $194,605,422 | $245,431,527 | $60,863,297 | $49,603,595 | $550,503,841 |
SOURCE: The Real Deal analysis of NYC property records (ACRIS)
In March, the deals were enormous. The biggest were Amazon’s $1.1 billion purchase of WeWork’s Lord and Taylor building, and Munich RE’s approximately $900 million acquisition of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s 330 Madison.
But April and May saw just one deal larger than $100 million recorded. That was Trinity Place Holdings’ sale of a commercial condominium unit at 77 Greenwich Street. The buyer was the New York City School Construction Authority, which paid $104 million for the property.
Only three other deals surpassed $50 million in April and May, all in Brooklyn: Rockrose Development’s $81 million all-cash acquisition of a development site on the border of Fort Greene and DoBro, Camber Property Group’s $82 million buy of an eight-building Flatbush portfolio, and Fortis Property Group’s acquisition of a Bushwick nursing home for $58.8 million.
Mid-market dealmaking also slowed to a crawl, with several weeks of either just one deal or even zero deals in the $10 million to $30 million range.
The months since the pandemic hit New York have been more notable for the deals that fell through than for the ones that closed.
These include SL Green’s scrapped sale of the Daily News Building to Jacob Chetrit for $815 million, All Year Management’s abandoned sale of a 73-building multifamily portfolio to David Werner for $346 million, and Thor Equities’ $24 million sale of a Flatiron District retail building to Mactaggart Family & Partners. The total value of these abandoned deals is nearly on par with the total volume of recorded deals in the past two months.
See the table below for more details on the largest deals that were recorded from March through May:
Top Four Commercial Real Estate Sales by Borough & Month, Mar-May 2020
| Borough | Month | Property | Sales Price | Buyer/Seller | Listing Brokerage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manhattan | March 2020 | 424 Fifth Avenue (Lord & Taylor building) | $978 million | Amazon / WeWork | |
| Manhattan | March 2020 | 330 Madison Avenue (office building) | $900 million | Munich RE / Abu Dhabi Investment Authority | CBRE |
| Manhattan | March 2020 | 530 Broadway (office building) | $382 million | Michael Shvo, Deutsche Finance, BVK & Bilgili Holding / Wharton Properties & Thor Equities | |
| Manhattan | March 2020 | 44 Wall Street (office building) | $200 million | Gaedeke Group / Blackstone | Eastdil Secured & Hodges Ward Elliott |
| Brooklyn | March 2020 | 123 Hope Street (mixed-use multifamily building) | $84 million | HUBBNYC / Adam America | Prince Realty Advisors |
| Brooklyn | March 2020 | 35 Jay Street (development site) | $62 million | Edward J. Minskoff Equities / Forman Group of Companies | JLL |
| Brooklyn | March 2020 | 167-171 North First Street (warehouse) | $18 million | New Mexico-based LLC / Kevsta Inc. | |
| Brooklyn | March 2020 | 39 (a.k.a. 45) Ainslie Street (mixed-use multifamily) | $11 million | Yosef Rabinowitz / Brooklyn Standard Properties | |
| Queens | March 2020 | 133-25 37th Avenue (development site) | $59 million | Gary Tsan / Yihai Property | Cushman & Wakefield |
| Queens | March 2020 | 38-18 Union Street (retail condominium) | $42 million | Thor Equities & United American Land / F&T Group, AECOM Capital & Rockefeller Group | |
| Queens | March 2020 | 136-18 Maple Avenue (development site) | $24 million | Vicki Zhi / Amy Khoudari | |
| Queens | March 2020 | 301-329 Beach 65th Street (13 three-family homes) | $14 million | David Ekstein / Marcal Group | |
| Bronx | March 2020 | Hudson & Harlem Line Train Tracks, Grand Central Terminal & other parcels | $33 million | Metropolitan Transportation Authority / Midtown Trackage Ventures | |
| Bronx | March 2020 | 2413 Third Avenue (development site) | $24 million | RXR Realty / Somerset Partners | |
| Bronx | March 2020 | North side of Lafayette Avenue between Boynton and Morrison Avenues (development site) | $19 million | Joel Braver / Jacob Schwimmer | |
| Bronx | March 2020 | 9 Bruckner Boulevard (development site) | $11 million | RXR Realty / Somerset Partners | |
| Manhattan | April 2020 | 77 Greenwich Street (commercial condo unit) | $104 million | New York City School Construction Authority / Trinity Place Holdings | |
| Manhattan | April 2020 | 19-23 St. Mark’s Place (apartment building) | $35 million | UBS Realty Investors / Cape Advisors | JLL |
| Manhattan | April 2020 | 200 East 95th Street (three commercial condos) | $29 million | Anonymous LLC / Extell Development | Avison Young |
| Manhattan | April 2020 | 55-59 Chrystie Street (mixed-use building) | $29 million | Lam Generation / Bankruptcy auction (formerly CTW Realty) | Rosewood Realty |
| Brooklyn | April 2020 | 98 DeKalb Avenue (development site) | $81 million | Rockrose Development / Kotler family | JLL |
| Brooklyn | April 2020 | 251 Douglass Street (development site) | $23 million | Tavros Capital Partners & Charney Companies / Galinn Fund | JLL |
| Brooklyn | April 2020 | 33 Franklin Street (development site) | $19 million | Joel Friedman / Marlborough Gallery | JLL |
| Brooklyn | April 2020 | 169 North 10th Street (apartment building) | $16 million | McCarren Management / Great Point Properties | Gaia Property Group |
| Queens | April 2020 | 64-11 Beach Channel Drive (nursing home) | $28 million | MT Capital Group / Resort Horizon LLC | |
| Queens | April 2020 | 22-70 31st Street (development site) | $7 million | Lam Generation / Ditmars Associates | |
| Queens | April 2020 | 22-60 46th Street (development site) | $6 million | MD45 Developers / Mega Realty Holding | |
| Queens | April 2020 | 42-44 13th Street (parking lot) | $6 million | Kedia Bor LLC / On the Nickel LLC | |
| Bronx | April 2020 | 1226 & 1240 Sherman Avenue (apartment buildings) | $17 million | Prana Investments / Morgan Group | |
| Bronx | April 2020 | 155 Pilot Street & 192 Schofield Street (marina) | $9 million | Thomas Auringer / Joseph Briody | |
| Bronx | April 2020 | 3041 Webster Avenue (development site) | $6 million | Bolivar Development / Sam’s Carpet | JLL |
| Bronx | April 2020 | 512 Tiffany Street (warehouse) | $6 million | Jack Guttman / Trylon Wire & Metal Works | |
| Manhattan | May 2020 | 309 & 317 West 99th Street (apartment buildings) | $37 million | Lightstone Group / Sofia Einy | |
| Manhattan | May 2020 | 644 East 14th Street (development site) | $31 million | Madison Realty Capital / Opal Holdings | |
| Manhattan | May 2020 | 620 West 153rd Street (development site) | $29 million | Isaac Chetrit / Anbau Enterprises | JLL |
| Manhattan | May 2020 | 3 East 63rd Street (apartment building/townhouse) | $12 million | Ben Braka / Philip Young | Corcoran |
| Brooklyn | May 2020 | 211 Linden Boulevard & seven others (apartment buildings) | $82 million | Camber Property Group / Coltown Properties | |
| Brooklyn | May 2020 | 48 Cedar Street (nursing home) | $59 million | Fortis Property Group / Riseboro Community Partnership | |
| Brooklyn | May 2020 | 510 Gates Avenue (homeless services development site) | $11 million | The Doe Fund / Paul J. Cooper Center for Human Services | |
| Brooklyn | May 2020 | 6740 Third Avenue (school development site) | $11 million | NYC School Construction Authority / Stath Realty Corp | |
| Queens | May 2020 | 72-11 Roosevelt Avenue (banquet hall building) | $24 million | Werber Management / Delco Properties | |
| Queens | May 2020 | 150-02 Hillside Avenue (former car dealership) | $5 million | Mina Farah / Estate of Thomas Nemet | |
| Queens | May 2020 | 11-24 Borden Avenue (industrial property) | $5 million | Madbury Capital / XS Realty Company | |
| Queens | May 2020 | 33-26 107th Street (church building) | $3 million | Faith Bible Church of Corona / Young Nak Presbyterian Church | |
| Bronx | May 2020 | 1926 Crotona Parkway (mixed-use building) | $5 million | Crotona Ground LLC / Highbridge Community Development Corporation | |
| Bronx | May 2020 | 6375 Broadway (development site) | $5 million | Stagg Group / W Group | |
| Bronx | May 2020 | 52 East 170th Street (retail building) | $5 million | Fabco Shoes / Stuart Albrecht | |
| Bronx | May 2020 | 1080 University Avenue & two adjacent lots (apartment building & vacant land) | $4 million | Summit Avenue Development I LLC / James W. Taylor Jr. Revocable Trust |
SOURCE: The Real Deal analysis of NYC property records (ACRIS)
