The market's strong leasing activity can be attributed to robust expansion in office employment, which reached a record high of 1.66 million, and to large relocation and expansion transactions of more than 100,000 square feet. These deals kept asking rents and availability stable, though the market did see a decline in both taking rents and average net effective rent. The average asking rent reached $72.91 at the end of 2017, while the availability rate, at 11.5 percent, remained unchanged year over year.

Deal Tracker Daily

NEW YORK, NY—Capping off a successful year of leasing activity, the William Kaufman Organization announced today that it has finalized another full floor office lease at 437 Madison Avenue, a 40-story, 850,000 square-foot building in Midtown East. Citizens Bank has signed a 10-year, 17,750 square-foot lease on the entire 18^th floor of the property, which occupies the entire blockfront between 49th and 50th Streets. Founded in late 1820s, Citizens Bank is one of the nation's oldest and largest financial institutions, with $151.4 billion in assets as of June 30, 2017. Its New York offices will be utilized for executive and general office use.

NEW YORK, NY—Enterprise Community Partners and JPMorgan Chase announced a $40 million deal with Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center to transform a former bicycle factory in Ozone Park, Queens into the GMDC Ozone Park Industrial Center. This multi-tenant manufacturing hub will create affordable workspaces for 25 small businesses, spurring the creation of 80 permanent, above-living-wage manufacturing jobs and generating $23 million in local economic activity annually. The project will rehabilitate and reactivate an 88,500-square-foot historic property while attaining LEED certification. New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs), which attract private investment capital to some of the most distressed communities, provided $10.5 million in equity financing for the project.

WOBURN, MA—NKF Capital Markets completed the sale of 8 Presidential Way in Woburn, Massachusetts for $13.25 million. Comprising 104,000 square feet, 8 Presidential Way features prominent building signage, efficient floor plates, excellent clear heights and abundant parking. Led by US head of capital markets Robert Griffin, vice chairman Edward Maher, executive managing director Matthew Pullen and associate director Samantha Hallowell in conjunction with Newmark Knight Frank executive managing directors Torin Taylor, Richard Ruggiero and Matthew Adams and director Rory Walsh, the NKF Capital Markets Boston office oversaw the transaction of the two-story building on behalf of Chestnut Realty Management.

RUTHERFORD, NJ—iFLY Indoor Skydiving will establish the company's first location in the state. Austin-based iFLY, which has more than 60 other locations in 14 countries, sells timed packages of flight time, which mimics the feeling of free-fall skydiving, albeit safely indoors in an air-conditioned environment. Newmark Knight Frank represented Madison Realty Capital, owners of 211 Route 4 in Paramus, New Jersey, in the transaction, led by directors Dean Tselepis and Jerry Putterman.

QUAKERTOWN, PA—EXP Realty Advisors arranged the sale of a 85,000 square-foot net-leased BJ's Wholesale Club property at 616 N West End Blvd, in Quakertown, PA for $12.225 million. Positioned in Bucks County, the third wealthiest in Pennsylvania, BJ's is located just 16 miles south of the Lehigh Valley. Andrew Greenberg, director of sales, and Daniel de Sá, co-founder of EXP Realty Advisors, brokered the transaction for a New York City based real estate investor who needed to complete a 1031 exchange.

NEWARK, NJ—C&K Properties signed a new lease extension with Standard Chartered Bank for 72,319-square-foot office space in 2 Gateway Center, the class-A office building in the heart of downtown Newark, NJ. C&K Properties was represented by Dudley Ryan, senior vice president, Cheryl Hardt, first vice president, and Kadeem Goodall-Reid, associate, of CBRE's New Jersey office.

PARSIPPANY, NJ—RD Management and its partners JMF Properties and Ripco Real Estate Corp. have signed a lease with Shake Shack at the Waterview Marketplace shopping center in Parsippany, NJ. Shake Shack will occupy a 3,500-square-foot pad site on the 16-acre property. The center is approximately 150,000 square feet and scheduled to open in late 2018.

Money Moves

HACKENSACK, NJ—NAI James E. Hanson says Steve Pastor, vice president of NAI Hanson's Global Supply Chain & Ports/Rail Logistics Practice, has been named the chair of NAI Global's 2018 Industrial Council. Pastor has served as the NAI Global Industrial Chair since 2015. Pastor currently represents Norfolk Southern, Kansas City Southern, and BNSF, which are all Class One Railroads, and assists to streamline their national networks of inland port and port-related real estate assets. Pastor's depth of experience and straight forward approach to serving his clients has enabled him to become one of the foremost experts and consultants in the industry.