NYC REIT Buys 1140 Avenue of the Americas

American Realty Capital's New York City REIT, Inc. (NYCR), a public non-traded real estate investment trust that debuted on the NYSE in April 2014, has entered into an agreement to acquire 1140 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan for $180 million. BPGL Holdings LLC, an affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI L.P., is selling the 22-story Class A office property in a transaction expected to close during the second quarter. Full terms of the deal and representation were not disclosed.

"We are pleased to announce the acquisition of 1140 Avenue of the Americas, which enjoys a prime central Midtown Manhattan location with diverse and high quality tenants, as well as a recent $85 million capital investment from Blackstone," said Michael Happel, Chief Executive Officer of NYCR, in a press release. "The property features boutique floor plates, recently upgraded elevators and common areas, with a number of leases below market. This acquisition is consistent with our strategy to acquire institutional quality real estate in prime Manhattan locations."

Built in 1962, 1140 Avenue of the Americas is located between West 44th and West 45th streets and features three penthouse floors with 5,000 square feet of usable terraces enhanced by Central Park and Bryant Park views. Blackstone originally acquired the tower in 2011 when it bought a non-performing note on the asset for just $98.25 million, at which time the property was nearly 75% vacant. Blackstone repositioned the office tower after purchasing it, adding a new glass façade, new lobby, new elevators, and redesigned mechanicals and infrastructure. The tower is currently 91% leased, with major tenants including City National Bank, Upsilon Ventures, and Aristeia Capital.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

ARC NYRR Buys Midtown Manhattan Office for $220.3M

American Realty Capital New York Recovery REIT (NYRR), a a real estate investment trust managed by American Realty Trust, announced this week that it had purchased 333 West 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan for $220.3 million, or about $632 per square foot, exclusive of closing costs. NYRR bought the 10-story office building from SL Green, which was represented by the Jones Lang LaSalle capital markets team.

Michael A. Happel, Chief Investment Officer of NYRR, explained, "The purchase of 333 West 34th Street exemplifies our commitment to buying well-located, well-tenanted, stabilized assets in New York City with potential for asset appreciation and limited downside risk. This building is situated between the burgeoning Hudson Yards and Herald Square sub-markets of Midtown Manhattan, and features top-quality tenants at below market rents. With the addition of this asset, we have created a portfolio totaling approximately $775 million. We remain focused on acquiring quality New York City real estate with rents that are accretive to our distributions."

The ten-story, 348,363-square-foot office tower was built in 1953 on three-quarters of an acre in Midtown Manhattan's Penn Plaza / Garment District submarket, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, according to a CoStar report. The property was 100% leased at the time of sale to four tenants: The Segal Company (Eastern States), Inc.; The Metropolitan Transportation Authority; Godiva Chocolatier Inc.; and Sam Ash New York Megastores, LLC.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

NYRR Acquires Chelsea Office Building for $112M

American Realty Capital New York Recovery REIT (NYRR) announced this week that it had closed on the acquisition of an office building in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood for $112 million. The property contains approximately 166,000 rentable square feet and is 84% leased to 5 tenants, including Red Bull North America Inc., SAE Institute of Technology Corp. and Microsoft Corp.

"This was an off-market, privately negotiated purchase of a great building in the Silicon Alley area of Manhattan,” said Michael Happel, CIO of NYRR. “We believe this is one of the strongest submarkets in the city and this property has high quality tenants as well as upside potential from both lease-up and rent growth opportunities."

In the REIT's 2012 annual report, NYRR disclosed that it had entered into a purchase and sale agreement in January of this year to acquire the fee simple interest in an institutional-quality office building located at 218 West 18th Street in Manhattan for a contract purchase price of the property is $112.0 million, exclusive of closing costs.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.