By Patrick Hedlund
Cha-Chang Ubiquitous Downtown hotel developer Sam Chang scooped up another prized property in the Financial District last week, acquiring the site close by the waterfront at 6 Water St. for $56 million.
Chang, whose McSam Hotel Group LLC is one of the city’s most active hotel developers, offered the winning bid after the property was marketed globally to more than 1,000 investors, according to brokerage firm Eastern Consolidated. The site, aka 32-38 Pearl St., which also fronts Moore St., features 8,300 existing square feet and allows for 125,000 buildable square feet. McSam is planning a boutique hotel at the location that will rise to between 30 and 40 stories, with sweeping views of New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty.
Chang has been buying, and sometimes flipping, development sites across the city at a torrid pace, especially in Lower Manhattan. In this deal, the company acquired the site from owner Richard Breton of Water & Pearl Land LLC/Water & Pearl Partners LLC, who met with Eastern Consolidated directors Alan P. Miller and David Johnson 18 months ago to first discuss the sale. Even back then, Chang “was purchasing more Downtown land than any other developer in Manhattan,” Miller said in a statement announcing the deal.
An Eastern Consolidated team made up of Miller, Johnson, Peter Hauspurg, Jeffrey B. Troy and Ronda Rogovin represented the seller, while Miller and Johnson secured the buyer. Ben Fein, Esq., of Meister, Seelig & Fein LLP law firm, represented the seller, while Brian Wrynn, Esq., of McSam Hotel Group LLC, acted in-house for the buyer.
Celluloid square Hudson Square’s increasingly creative office tenancy got a boost last week when it was announced that international movie house Epoch Films would be moving to the neighborhood.
The company will take 15,000 square feet on the fourth floor of 435 Hudson St., between Leroy and Morton Sts., in a relocation from their current digs about 15 blocks south in Tribeca.
The deal brings the nine-story, Trinity Real Estate-owned building to 100 percent occupancy, with tenants including L’Oreal, MCI International and Tom Hennes, Inc.
Hunter Realty Organization’s Marc Schoen, who represented Epoch in the deal, said the company wanted to be in a “premier” building and that this address was the best in Trinity’s Hudson Square portfolio. “This really has become an elegant part of the Downtown area,” Schoen added. “It’s got a residential and commercial feel, and the employees love that.” He noted the asking price was $55 per square foot for the 10½ -year lease.
The company, with offices in London and Los Angeles, counts clients such as Microsoft, Apple, Coke, Nike and Visa, and produced its first feature film, “Junebug,” in 2005. Epoch is currently producing its next feature, “Gigantic,” starring John Goodman and Ed Asner, with filming locations throughout New York City.
About 15 staff will relocate to the new office, which Epoch spokesperson Emily Kowalczyk told Mixed Use will be a bit larger than its current space.
“Epoch Films is known for their outstanding innovation and their inspired filmmaking, and we are delighted to welcome them into our Hudson Square community,” said Trinity President Carl Weisbrod in a statement.
Jason Pizer and Garett Varricchio represented Trinity in the deal.
District ‘almost ready’ One of the more anticipated Lower Manhattan residential projects, District, at 111 Fulton St., is preparing to move in its first tenants, despite major ongoing construction work on the street outside the ambitious development.
New residents of the 10-story condo building are readying to move in “within weeks,” according to a press release, as 85 percent of the converted office tower’s 163 units have been sold. Mixed Use previously reported that 75 percent of the units had been moved as of early March, and sales could have been staunched by continuing water-main work along Fulton St.
The amenity-laden development, marketed by JC DeNiro and developed by Leviev Fulton Club L.L.C., includes a fitness center and indoor pool, screening room and 12,000-square-foot rooftop terrace with reflecting pools.
“We have completely transformed a commercial building that spans half a city block into a glamorous condominium residence,” said Joseph Klaynberg, one of District’s principal developers. “Its unique design manages to convey an intimate setting and provide absolute privacy. It’s very much like a private club.”
However, the reconstruction work on Fulton St. is expected to last at least another year, bringing noise and snarled traffic to the area.
“It really doesn’t seem to pose a problem for us at all,” said Nikki Martin, director of sales and marketing for District, noting the temporary nuisance is “actually a positive thing” for the area’s future value. “Nobody ever makes a complaint about it.”
Chambers St. rising A five-story, mixed-use building on the Tribeca-City Hall border has hit the market for $7.395 million, with more than 5,000 square feet of additional air rights attached to the deal.
The recently gut-renovated property — which totals 8,885 square feet — features five occupied residential units, plus ground-floor retail space, currently home to former Jerry’s of Soho owner Jerry Joseph’s newest restaurant venture, YourAsian.
All the units are currently renting at free-market rates, according to a statement from Eastern Consolidated’s Marcia Rose Yawitz, and the new owner could increase the space to 14,115 square feet with the additional air rights, “then convert to condominium status.”
She added that condo conversions have taken place at properties on either side of 90 Chambers St., with sales there in excess of $1,100 a square foot. The location is a block from City Hall and nearby all major subway lines servicing Lower Manhattan.
mixeduse@communitymediallc.com
