MetLife Unit Comes to SI Office Park

New York CityBridge Financial Group, a unit of MetLife, has signed on for nearly 30,000 square feet of space at Corporate Commons Two within the Nicotra Group’s Corporate Commons office park on Staten Island. “This site gives our firm the additional space to expand services and increase our presence on Staten Island,” says Bridge managing director Dominick Iorio in a release. Bridge’s office, now located in Staten Island’s Pleasant Plains neighborhood on Tyrellan Avenue, will be moving to the new location next month.

Cohen Brothers Realty Corp. has amassed a total of 126,000 square feet of leases in smaller recent transactions at four Midtown properties. Largest of the deals was a 35,530-square-foot renewal at 3 Park Ave. by ICBC Broadcast Holdings, which was represented by Patrick Gardner of Colliers. At 623 Fifth Ave., there was a full-floor direct lease of 14,486 square feet by Jesup & Lamont Securities arranged by CBRE’s Silvio Petrillo and Brad Needleman of CB Richard Ellis, and an identical-sized deal by MTS Health Partners, LP, which was repped by Norman Bobrow of Bobrow & Co. Other deals include five separate transactions involving nearly 19,000 square feet at 750 Lexington Ave., smaller deals at both 623 Fifth and 3 Park, and a pair of deals totaling more than 14,000 square feet at 805 Third Ave.

Life sciences company Enzo Biochem has expanded its New York City headquarters by signing a new 11,300-square-foot, full-floor lease at 527 Madison Ave. The early lease renewal adds 4,100 square feet to the tenant’s existing space. “Enzo Biochem wanted to control the balance of the floor while extending its existing lease,” says Studley’s Greg Taubin in a release. “Since the company doesn’t need to occupy the space immediately, we secured sublet rights in the lease, arranging for the existing tenant, Harvest Management, to remain in place and become our subtenant on a short-term sublease.” Jim Frederick and Peter Occhi of Cassidy Turley represented the landlord, MFA 527 Madison LLC.

Adams & Co. Real Estate, LLC recently brokered an 11-year, 18,324-square-foot renewal at 42 W. 39th St. for online apparel retailer Bluefly. David Levy and Jeffrey Schwartz of Adams & Co. Real Estate represented both the tenant and the landlord in the transaction.

Bank of America has opted for 15,635 square feet at 14 Wall St., owned by Capstone Equities and the Carlyle Group. A CB Richard Ellis team of Brad Gerla, Howard Fiddle, Jonathan Cope, Evan Haskell and Michael Higgins represented the office tower’s ownership. There was no tenant rep in the deal.

Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman, serving as exclusive advisor to an affiliate of Bloomingdale Properties, has arranged a $35-million first mortgage financing for 1385 Broadway, a 500,000-square-foot office and showroom building in Manhattan. A CWSG spokesman says the 10-year loan was provided by an offshore commercial bank.

Aaron Appel of CB Richard Ellis’s capital markets debt & equity finance group in New York City has secured financing totaling $17.25 million for 44 Berry St., a 45,000-square-foot mixed-use property in Brooklyn. The five-year permanent mortgage features a 5.625% interest rate and 30-year loan amortization schedule. “A local bank provided permanent financing at a competitive fixed rate in a challenging environment,” Appel says in a release.

New JerseyThe Paramus-based Goldstein Group recently brokered several restaurants leases in New Jersey. Sertino’s Café, a franchised operation based in Portland, OR, is opening a 1,500-square-foot café on Kinderkamack Road in Emerson; New York Bagel recently signed a lease for 1,500 square feet on Route 46 in Parsippany; and Planet Wings is about to call a 1,700-square-foot location at Garfield Mall home.

Additional reporting by Alyson Grala.