New York Buildings sold
RXR Realty">RXR Realty was near a $1.7 billion deal to acquire the 42-story office tower at 1285 Sixth Avenue and has finally closed, marking one of the city's biggest commercial transactions of the year. RXR financed the purchase with $1.2 billion in loans. AXA Financial, formerly owned both buildings, with 1285 Sixth Avenue owned through a joint venture between AXA and JPMorgan Asset Management. AXA put the adjacent properties up for sale last summer and was looking for as much as $4 billion for the two buildings combined.Caerus Group closed on its $38.2 million purchase of the former Zionist Organization of America headquarters building at 4 East 34th Street a six-story building, containing 29,000-square-foot with 52,300 square feet of air-rights. Caerus plans to reposition the building. Caerus also bought additional air-rights from properties surrounding 4 East 34th Street. In total, the company paid around $70 million to $80 million for the building and the additional rights. The deal's closing was delayed by litigation brought against the Zionist Organization by a former retail tenant at the property, B. Boman & Co.
Gurpreet Singh, is in contract to acquire a three-floor retail condominium unit in Chinatown for $28 million. Singh's Jamaica Woods Holding LLC is paying $1,664 per square foot for the nearly 17,000-square-foot property, consisting of the first three floors and basement of a 15-story, 58,000-square-foot commercial condo building at 11 East Broadway. Jamaica Woods will acquire the space, currently triple net leased to HSBC Bank for the next eight years, plus a 10-year tenant renewal option from a consortium of Chinese American professionals who own many of the office condos at 11 East Broadway.
Weihong Hu's Mayflower Business Group acquired a Garment District development site holding around 50,000 buildable square feet for $28 million. The site at 317-319 West 35th Street is located between Eighth and Ninth avenues and consists of two five-story rental buildings with 24 apartments and four commercial units.
Michael Reid and Gerald Nocera, two of the founders of Herald Square Properties, bought 251 West 30th Street in Chelsea for $52 million. The partners plan on renovating the 16-story, 104,000-square-foot office loft building to attract tech firms looking for about 5,000 to 8,000 square feet of space.
Springhouse Partners bought a mixed-use rental building on Irving Place paying the Rumpel family $55 million. The six-story, 50,000-square-foot building at 51 Irving Place, on the corner of East 17th Street, has 56 rental units which are market priced. The property also has about 10,000-square-foot commercial component holding five retail tenants and one office unit.
Benchmark Real Estate Group sold a 36-unit mixed-use rental building in Midtown West to a family-run investment firm for $47.5 million. Benchmark sold the six-story, 37,000-square-foot property at 885 10th Avenue with Rich International, owned by the Park family. Benchmark acquired the elevator building, which is located on the corner of West 58th Street and features two ground-floor retail spaces spanning 3,000 square feet, for $32.3 million in 2014.
The Klein Group is in contract to acquire an 8,200-square-foot retail unit at 301 East 50th at the base of a new Midtown East residential tower for around $25.5 million. In an off-market deal, the landlord is paying the developers roughly $3,100 per square foot for the commercial unit at the base of the tower, which features 6,200 square feet of street-level retail space and an additional 2,000 square feet on a lower level. The remaining, roughly 5,000 square feet remains on the market and can accommodate two additional tenants. They hope to get north of $200 per square foot for the space, which is newly constructed and features high ceilings and a corner location.
Morris Moinian and Morry Kalimian of Elk Investors were the winning bidders for a Lower East Side hotel development site at 139-141 Orchard Street and will pay $30.75 million for the property which is a partially constructed hotel. The winners will pay an additional 2.5% for a total contract price of $30.75 million. The deal is subject to approval by the U.S. Southern District bankruptcy court.
Qatar Investment Authority">The Qatar Investment Authority, is in advanced negotiations to buy the St. Regis luxury hotels in New York and San Francisco from Starwood Hotels & Resorts. Starwood Hotels & Resorts, is currently finalizing a $12.4 billion takeover by fellow international hotel chain Marriott International that is expected to create the world's largest hotel operator. Starwood is looking to sell five U.S. hotels in advance of the deal's closing, including properties in Maui, Atlanta and Chicago, while also seeking a leasehold sale of the W New York in Times Square. While the pair of hotels could get as much as $1 billion. The hotels would represent QIA's latest ambitious real estate play in New York, with the sovereign wealth fund detailing plans last year to invest $35 billion in the U.S. over the next five years.
Normandy Real Estate Partners is in contract to buy 797-799 Broadway, a 138,000-square-foot Greenwich Village office building for $100 million. The six-story, 138,000-square-foot property is known as the former St. Denis Hotel. The hotel was built in 1853 and converted into a Class B office building in the early 1920s. The property is now a mix of medical offices and small-scale retail tenants. The seller is Cambridge Associates who has owned and managed the building for more than 45 years. The deal is set to close for $700 per square foot.
Thor Equities">Thor Equities and General Growth Properties are set to close on an $85 million purchase of a landmarked Midtown retail building that is subject of ongoing litigation. The four-story, 22,000-square-foot property at 220 West 57th Street is the home of Lee's Art Supplies. Lee's Art supply intents to move out by early June. The exit makes way for significant development potential, given the site's 126,000 buildable square feet. Even as the deal nears closing, a lawsuit persists. Safka Holdings entered contract to buy the building for $65 million in 2013. GGP turned down his offer to join the deal as a partner, investor or lender because the price was too high.
Woodridge Capital Partners paid $150 million for the Holiday Inn Midtown 57th Street.
Woodridge Capital Partners bought the 17-story, 596-key hotel at 440 West 57th Street, from Jaseme Associates. Jaseme is an investment company affiliated with William Meyer, the chairman and co-founder of hotel investment and management firm Meyer Jabara Hotels. The buyer also secured a $90 million loan to help fund the purchase.
NYC Buildings For Sale
Thor Equities">Thor Equities is in contract to sell an office-and-retail building at 693 Fifth Avenue for $525 million. The deal would be a sizable return on the $142 million that the retail landlord paid six years ago for the 105,422-square-foot property, located between East 54th and East 55th streets in Midtown.
Thor Equities">Thor Equities is considering selling its headquarters building a 16-story, 208,000-square-foot office property at 25-33 West 39th Street. The Class B building is expected to get north of $200 million. Thor and the Chetrit Group bought it from Tommy Hilfiger for $53 million in 2005. The following year, Chetrit sold its interest to Thor for $80 million.
