New York Buildings sold
Joseph Sitt's Thor Equities and developer Joseph Moinian have completed the long awaited deal to buy out Goldman Sachs at 245 Fifth Avenue for $162 million. The property, near 28th Street, had been up for sale since January, when Moinian and his previous venture partner, Goldman Sachs Whitehall Funds, decided to put the building up for sale through Eastdil Secured. The property was originally purchased for $190 million, or $620 a square foot, at the height of the market in 2007.RXR Realty purchased the Starrett-Leigh building at 601 West 26th Street for $900 million from Shorenstein Properties. The 79-year-old, 2.2 million-square-foot building has a variety of tenants, led by the Martha Stewart media empire and Lord & Taylor's corporate offices. Scott Rechler, chairman of RXR Realty, was interested in the property because he foresees growth in the area. RXR also purchased 1330 Sixth Avenue in November, and bought a 49 percent stake in 340 Madison Avenue last April.
Paramount Group purchased the remaining 49 percent stake of the 2.4 million-square-foot, 48-story 1633 Broadway from Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch. The deal values the building, at the corner of Broadway and 50th Street, at $2 billion. The office tower at 1633 Broadway has several high-profile tenants, including Allianz Global Investors, which signed a 20-year deal for 213,000 square feet in August in one of the largest deals in 2010.
Invesco closed on the purchase of the Elektra, a 32-story, 166-unit apartment building at 290 Third Avenue near 23rd Street with 5,200 square feet of ground-floor retail space, the company announced today. As investors flood the Manhattan commercial market and few buildings go up for sale, buyers are increasingly taking partial stakes in buildings. RXR Realty's purchase of 40 percent of 1166 Sixth Avenue, L&L Holdings finding an investor for part of 195 Broadway, SL Green Realty's $138 million investment in 3 Columbus Circle and Vornado Realty Trust's deal with SL Green for 280 Park Avenue. While the activity is a healthy sign for the market, it also requires multiple parties with millions of dollars at stake to work together on a single project.
SL Green Realty has bought out its joint venture partner in Times Square's 1515 Broadway, giving the city's largest office landlord full ownership of the property in a transaction valuing it at $1.21 billion, the company announced today. SL Green had owned the 1.75 million-square-foot building with SITQ, a subsidiary of Canadian investment fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, one of several joint ventures for the pair throughout the city.
Kuwaiti investment firm Fosterlane Management, the former owner of the Lipstick Building and 350 Park Avenue, is getting back into the New York City real estate game with the purchase of Hines Interests' 750 Seventh Avenue for $485 million, or roughly $808 per square foot.]
Private equity firm Blackstone Group paid $160 million for the top 12 floors of the old New York Times Building at 229 West 43rd Street, owned by a partnership of real estate developer Africa Israel USA and private equity firm Five Mile Capital. Blackstone bought the office condominium comprised of a portion of the 4th floor as well as floors 5 through 16. Public records indicate it is about 600,000 square feet of the 745,000-square-foot building, which would amount to a price of $267 per square foot.
