THIS is how hot the Meatpacking District is: The holder of a 49-year leasehold on the site of fashion retailer Theory’s new flagship store and corporate offices is putting that leasehold up for sale – even before the project is built.
Developer Charles Blaichman is one of the neighborhood’s most active players – he’s a major partner, for example, in 29-35 Ninth Ave., the building that houses Jean-Georges Vongerichten‘s Spice Market and super-exclusive club Soho House on the top four floors.
Not long ago, he quietly bought a 49-year leasehold on 40 Gansevoort St., former home to a meat wholesaling plant, from the family that owns the land.
Blaichman demolished the old building and lured Theory, for which he’s building a five-story, 64,000-square-foot headquarters.
Theory took a 15-year net lease on the property, where it will have its Manhattan flagship store on the ground floor and basement, with showrooms and offices upstairs.
Now, Blaichman has decided to sell the leasehold, and he’s tapped Eastern Consolidated’s Ron Solarz and Eric Anton, along with Sinvin Realty’s Christopher Owles, to sift offers.
None of the brokers would discuss the asking price, but our moles on the cobblestone streets say a “dream number” would be “north of $30 million.” It’s not known what Blaichman paid when he bought the leasehold.
“How hot are things in Meaptacking?” Anton mused. “White hot is about to become blue-hot – Ron and I know of three or four super-secret deals close to happening.”
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Borders Books has signed a lease for its first store in Queens, and it’s a jumbo: 22,500 square feet at Atlas Park in Glendale, the ambitious, $180 million project being developed by Manhattan-based Atco Properties & Management.
Atlas Park, near LIE exit 19, will take up 12.5 acres. Besides 300,000 square feet of stores, the complex will also have 100,000 square feet of offices and parking for 1,200 cars, with a mix of new and old buildings grouped around a new elliptical park.
Atco Vice President Damon Hemmerdinger said the retail portion “is about half-leased, with many quite small tenants.” Asking rents range from $30 to $80 a foot.
Borders is the biggest store to sign so far. Atco recently landed a United Artists eight-screen movie theater.
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At long last, an actual lease-signing at 7 World Trade Center appears imminent. Sources say the New York Academy of Sciences is likely to complete a lease with Larry Silverstein within a week for a full, 40,000-square-foot floor.
The academy’s talks with Silverstein were first reported in The Post on Oct. 26. Since then, two widely discussed potential deals at the tower have yet to happen. American Express spinoff Ameriprise Financial has yet to clinch a deal for 20,000 feet, and the status of talks for a possible 200,000 feet for China’s Vantone Real Estate Co. remains unclear.
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The annual holiday bash hosted by law firm Fried, Frank’s real estate chairman Jonathan Mechanic, packed them into Cipriani 42nd Street the other night – and it was a different scene from the staid affairs the industry knows too well.
Studley investment sale wizard Woody Heller joked that he could do a deal without leaving the room – “I’ll get the debt from one side, the equity from the other, the buyer and the seller and the legal talent.”
Murray Hill Properties’ Norman Sturner was throwing back martinis; hard-partying developer George Klein almost closed the joint.
Vornado President Mike Fascitelli looked cheerful over the retail lease-up at the Bloomberg tower; L&L Holdings principal David W. Levinson sounded excited over the marketing blitz for top floors at 195 Broadway; and Tishman Speyer honcho Rob Speyer was beaming over the smash debut of the 30 Rockefeller Plaza observation deck.
Also whooping it up were Related CEO Stephen Ross; developers Burt and Scott Resnick, Billy Macklowe, Bill Rudin and Joseph Moinian; Cushman & Wakefield powerhouses Bruce Mosler, John Cefaly and Ron Cohen; CB Richard Ellis’ Mary Ann Tighe and Stephen B. Siegel; Newmark’s Jeff Gural; Reckson honcho Scott Reckler; Wachovia’s Rob Verrone, Boston Properties’ Robert Selsam; Eastdil’s Ben Lambert and Doug Harmon; Lloyd Goldman, SL Green founder Stephen L. Green, Kent Swig, Jeffrey Feil, Charlie Bendit and Prudential Douglas Elliman retail whizzes Faith Hope Consolo and Joseph Aquino.