NYC Buildings For Sale
GM building Sale. The sale for the GM building could be in doubt as buyers are scared away by the pending lawsuit from Sheldon Solow. Developer Harry Macklowe is trying to sell the General Motors Building to pay off massive debts that are soon due. People wait to see who might try to buy the 50-story tower. Sheldon Solow, Larry Silverstein, Vornado CEO Steven Roth, and Tishman Speyer CEO Jerry Speyer. Bidding is expected to begin at $3.5 billion, and the property might not even sell. A recapitalization could be all that happens in the end. A lawsuit by developer Sheldon Solow, which alleges that 2003 purchase of the General Motors Building was fraudulent, could complicate Macklowe's attempts to sell the building. A judge ruled earlier this month the case could move forward, surprising observers. "The judge's decision could put the brakes on any sale, or at a minimum change the economics," said Ross Moskowitz, a real estate partner at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. "Unless there is a comfort level on the merits of the litigation with a meaningful indemnification, any prospective buyer and lender would have to think long and hard about moving forward with this purchase.
RFR Realty is planning to sell 17 State Street, the 42-story, 570,000 square foot office tower. The building is hoping to attract to hedge funds, money management firms and Internet companies. There is little available. A high floor suite has an asking rent of $45 per square foot.
SL Green wants to sell 39-story Herald Square at 1250 Broadway for $350 million.
A 275,000-square foot office building at 180 Madison Avenue will sell for $150 million, or $540 per square foot, to Ronnie Hackett's Claret Group. Four years ago, Sitt Asset Management paid $91.5 million to buy the building from SL Green Realty Corp.
New York Buildings sold
Vornado Realty Trust has purchased a stake in loans tied to four buildings, owned by developer Harry Macklowe, who has a $6.4 billion debt payment for seven Midtown Manhattan office buildings purchased a year ago due next month.
A third of commercial deals in the first three weeks of January were done by international buyers.
Philips International Holding Corp. sold a seven-story office building at 155 Fifth Avenue for $38 million to the Eretz Group, a New York-based real estate investment firm. Philips International bought the 32,500-square foot building at 21st Street from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
Northbrook Partners paid more than $300 million for nine Upper West Side and West Village buildings, including at least two rentals. The firm is owned by the Racolin family, which bought and built several city buildings throughout the 1930s and 1940s. The buildings include 98 Riverside Drive; 48-60 Seventh Avenue and shares of a recently converted condominium at 172 West 79th Street. Northbrook was founded by Maurice Mann, president of Mann Realty Associates.
The Moinian Group purchased a vacant lot at 553 11th Avenue for $24.5 million, next door to its 46-story, 478-unit Atelier condominium at 627 West 42nd Street.
The Glad Tidings Tabernacle Church at 325 West 33rd Street sold for $31 million. A 95,000-square-foot, 250-room hotel will replace the church. The buyer, PLC Partners, is building the 300-room Cambria Suites Brooklyn Bridge hotel. Demolition has reportedly begun at the church.
The Lam Group purchased a vacant building for $13.1 million at 49-53 Ann Street, and is planning a hotel. The four-story loft building is 15,500 square feet, but has a maximum build able area of 45,800 square feet. The Lam Group is owned by developer, a former partner of hotelier Sam Chang. Lam is building a 660-room Sheraton under at and the 150-room Four Points by Sheraton Soho Village, at 66 Charlton Street between Varick and Hudson Streets.
The sale of the Hotel Riverview at 113 Jane Street, on the Hudson River, closed for $27 million. Hoteliers Sean MacPherson and Eric Goode, the team behind the Bowery Hotel and the Maritime Hotel on West 16th Street, have submitted plans to restore and revamp the landmark Hotel Riverview to Community Board 2's business committee.
The Related Companies' partners, Twining Properties and Macfarlane Partners, at a stalled development site that takes up an entire block at 42nd Street and Tenth Avenue, have cashed out their shares in the project. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs and MSD Capital, which became the firm's first outside investors, last month, are now equity partners on the project at 440 West 42nd Street. A 60-story high rise residential tower with over 600 luxury apartments was planned after the former Houseman and Fairbanks theaters were cleared in 2005. The project failed to receive a zoning bonus and tax breaks for a proposed Cirque du Soleil complex in the tower's base.
