Historic NYC office building fetches a fraction of its recent $245M sale price heres why
A Midtown South boutique office building has been purchased by Williams Equities for little more than half of its most recent sale price, Realty Check has learned — but there might be more to understanding the deal than the price tag indicates.Williams paid only $147.5 million for 470 Park Avenue South, an historic, 300,000 square-foot property that takes up the entire west blockfront between East 31st and 32nd streets.The sellers were Steven J.
Pozycki’s SJP Properties and PGIM Real Estate, a Prudential Financial affiliate — which bought it for $245 million in 2018.However, the low purchase price paid by Williams doesn’t necessarily reflect the recent market phenomenon of bargain-basement deals as notoriously epitomized in the $8.5 million sale of 135 W.50th St., which previously fetched $332 million.Asked to address the seemingly low price for 470 Park Avenue South, Michael Cohen, a Williams principal, said, “We’re now in a post-pandemic interest rate and cap rate environment, very different from what existed in 2019 and for 10 or 20 years prior.
The result has been sizable adjustments in values that are not in any way reflective of the values of a building.”City Finance Dept.records show a $56 million mortgage on 470 Park Avenue Southfrom MetLife Real Estate Lending.
Cohen told us, “We financed the acquisition with a new mortgage loan” to take out the old one, but he couldn’t share terms or other details pending the lenders’ approval.Cohen added, “Our predecessors did a great job stewarding the building.” SJP and PGIM made significant investments in a new roof terrace, ground-floor lounge and a landscaped courtyard.The upgrades helped attract such recently-signed tenants as British sports streaming service DAZN and financial platform Anchorage Digital.Cohen said about 45% of the office space will soon be on the market for between the low $70s per square foot to the low $80s, with at least one block of over 50,000 square feet avai...