New York Buildings sold
The ELO Organization, a developer that owns the site of gentlemen’s club Rick’s Cabaret, has acquired a 12-story Garment District office building for $29.6 million from the Eretz Group. The 44,300-square-foot property at 39-41 West 38th Street. Asking rents were an average $38 per square foot at the property,International buyers purchased $5.5 billion worth of Manhattan office towers last year, from China, Canada and the United Arab Emirates. Last year’s sales were twice as much as the previous record of $3 billion in 2007. Fosun from China bought One Chase Manhattan Plaza, for over $700 million. Zhang Zinbopught part of the GM Building at 767 Fifth Avenue for $700 million. Ivanhoe Cambridge, a Canadian firm, paid $900 million for a stake in 1211 Sixth Avenue.
UAE’s Abu Dhabi Investment Authority paid $650 million for a stake in the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle. Aby Rosen has gained a new partner in China Vanke, for his proposed 61-story condominium-and-hotel tower at 610 Lexington Avenue.
Oxford Properties Group, is under contract to acquire a 330,000-square-foot tower at 450 Park Avenue for $575 million. The seller is Somerset Partners LLC and British investor Michael Tabor, paid $509 million in 2007.
An offshore investment fund plans to buy a 70-key hotel in Midtown from a real estate investment trust for $37 million, or $529,000 per key. The sale of the 21,955-square-foot Hotel 373 at 373 Fifth Avenue is expected to close in the second quarter. The current owner is Pennsylvania-based Hersha Hospitality Trust. The REIT bought the property for $9.5 million in 2004.
Well-known hedge fund manager Mark Sonnino snapped up an office building at 555 West 25th Street in West Chelsea in an all-cash transaction for $27 million or $665 per square foot.
British hotel company Millennium & Copthorne has agreed to acquire the Novotel New York Times Square hotel for nearly $274 million. A partnership of Apollo Global Management and Chartres Lodging Group will part ways with the 34-story property at 226 West 52nd Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, when the transaction closes sometime in the second quarter. Under the deal, European hotel operator Accor SA will continue to manage the property.
In a headline-grabbing deal in November, the Leona M. and Harry B. Charitable Trust sold the 605-unit Park Lane Hotel for $653 million. But what didn’t make it into the headlines was that the Central Park South property which was picked up by an investment team that included the Witkoff Group, Jynwel Capital and Highgate Holdings was the last crown jewel in the legendary estate’s New York City portfolio.
Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation is set to close on the retail space at the base of the Cheshire Group’s Philip House in Carnegie Hill for $17 million.
NYC Buildings For Sale
Waldorf Astoria owner Hilton Worldwide Holdings is mulling the sale of a stake in the famous property, or possibly the entire hotel. The 232-room hotel has hurt Hilton’s ability to charge top-tier rates.
Taconic Investment Partners has listed its 300,000-square-foot office building at 619 West 54th Street for $160 million. Taconic purchased the 10-story property for around $110 million in late 2012
The Related Companies is switching gears, opting to sell a Far West Side property. The company had been snapping up properties and building new buildings in and around the Hudson Yards. The 511-541 West 25th Street parcel is listed for $160 million. Related paid only $92 million for the 200,000-square-foot property which holds three conjoined buildings, two years ago.
Nonprofit library the Center for Fiction plans to sell its eight-story Midtown townhouse for $18 million, according to a petition filed in New York State Supreme Court.
Nonprofit organization the Children’s Aid Society is selling the Rhinelander Children’s Center to fund new construction for a charter school in the Tremont section of the Bronx.
Crown Acquisition, the Carlyle Group, Tribeca Associates and Highgate Holdings are in contract to sell a 20,000-square-foot retail condominium near the World Trade Center for close to $70 million.
