Tishman Buys CNN Tower from Broadreach Capital

NY-based Tishman Speyer has purchased the CNN Building at 6430 West Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood for more than $127-million, or more than $600 a square foot, from Palo Alto-based investment firm Broadreach Capital Partners. Broadreach originally acquired the property in April 2006 for $50 million. HFF's Todd Tydlaska and Andrew Harper represented Broadreach in the sale, with leasing guidance from Madison Partners' Steven Salas, Tony Ranger and Joe King. Tishman Speyer was self-represented in the acquisition.

"We're pleased to add this extremely well-located asset to our Los Angeles office portfolio," Rob Speyer, Tishman Speyer's president and chief executive officer, said in a prepared statement. "In particular, we continue to be very bullish on the Hollywood submarket as one of the key areas attracting growing companies with employees who want to live and work in a vibrant 24-hour community."

The 15-story tower was originally constructed in 1986, renovated in 2001, and awarded LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council in 2013. The property was 84% leased at the time of sale, with the tower now anchored by CNN's parent company Turner Broadcasting System, the movie-trailer-maker BLT & Associates, and advertising agency Oxford Road. Tishman Speyer plans on raising rent at the 204,122-square-foot Class A office property, sources tell the Real Deal; a five-story parking structure is adjacent to the tower.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

Tishman Plans $3B Tower

Rockefeller Center-based Tishman Speyer has released plans for a new $3 billion-plus office tower in the Hudson Yards district on Hudson Boulevard at the northern tip of the High Line. Designed by renowned Danish architect Bjarke Ingels of the Bjarke Ingels Group and dubbed The Spiral, the 65-story tower will feature a terraced design with an indoor workplace atrium and exterior landscaped terraces on every floor, with unobstructed views in every direction.

"This punctuates the High Line as the dot on the end of the question mark," explained Bjarke Ingels, referring to the building in relation to the curve of the transformed elevated freight line, in a Wall Street Journal article. "This linear urban garden climbs higher and higher from the High Line to the skyline, if you like."

The developer is working with Mr. Ingels on other projects in San Francisco and Frankfurt, Germany, and tapped him for the Spiral in part because he views real estate as "an organism that needs to be shaped," added Tishman Speyer Chief Executive Rob Speyer. "He understands the tectonic shifts that are happening not just in design but fundamentally in how people are interacting with one another within buildings." Tishman Speyer is looking to pre-lease about 30% of the building to obtain construction financing. The company already has secured more than $1 billion in equity from a group of international investors and has received approval for a 25-year tax abatement worth about $170 million, tapping into the incentives the city provides to developers in the district.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

Tishman Buys 183 Madison for $185M

Tishman Speyer Properties, together with the Cogswell-Lee Development Group, has entered into an agreement to purchase 183 Madison Ave. in New York City for $185 million, or $674 per square foot. The Argentinian real estate development firm IRSA is selling the art deco building known as the Madison-Belmont Building on East 34th and Madison. According to a New York Post article, Tishman is expected to target the building toward tech, advertising, media and Internet (TAMI) companies. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. IRSA and Rigby Asset Management purchased the building in 2010 for $85.1 million before IRSA took over full ownership of the building, as the Post noted.

The 274,413-square-foot building was designed by Warren & Wetmore, which also designed Grand Central Terminal, and was completed in 1925 for the Merchants & Manufacturers Exchange of New York as office and showroom space for silk companies in the developing Silk District of Manhattan. According to a press release from Tishman, the property is currently 95% leased.

"183 Madison Avenue, a magnificent property in the heart of one the world's leading magnets for technology, media, design and entertainment firms,” Tishman Speyer Co-CEOs Jerry Speyer and Rob Speyer said in a prepared statement. "Along with Tishman Speyer's recent acquisition of nearby 175 Varick Street, this continues our strategy of investing in New York City's fastest growing submarkets, including Midtown South, Hudson Yards and Long Island City."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Tishman Speyer Buys NYC Development Site for $438M

Tishman Speyer announced this week that it had acquired the rights to develop a 2.85 million square foot tower in Midtown Manhattan's Hudson Yards district, purchasing two undeveloped and adjacent parcels of land on 10th Ave. between West 34th St. and West 35th St. The assembled development site, which was acquired in separate transactions, paid $438 million for the development site, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The assemblage, along with the ability to purchase additional development rights that are available to Hudson Yards district developers, offers Tishman Speyer the rare opportunity to develop and construct a 2.85 million square foot tower in the heart of Manhattan's expanded west side neighborhood and business district.

"For several decades, Tishman Speyer has been one of the world's most active ground-up developers and investors, with projects currently being constructed or in the pipeline on four continents," said Tishman Speyer Co-CEOs Jerry Speyer and Rob Speyer in a statement. "We are very bullish on New York City and Hudson Yards, and found this to be the perfect time, development site and opportunity to participate in establishing Hudson Yards as the world's next great commercial district and neighborhood."

"New York needs more office space," added Rob Speyer. "There's a scarcity of large blocks of space that's going to be more pronounced in years ahead."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Tishman Picks up VA Office Tower for $205M

Beacon Capital Partners sold a Class A office tower in Arlington, Virginia this week to Tishman Speyer for $205 million, or $523 per square foot, according to a CoStar report. While no brokers were disclosed for Tishman, Beacon Capital was represented by Cassidy Turley Commercial Real Estate in the deal. Tishman said that they plan to launch improvements on the property including renovations to the lobby and elevators along with adding a fitness center.

The 19-story property at 1300 N. 17th Street was built in 1980 in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor outside of DC and features a full service cafe and five levels of underground parking. "We're very pleased with this opportunity to increase our presence by acquiring this attractive property in one of the nation's strongest office submarkets," said Tishman Speyer Co-CEOs Jerry Speyer and Rob Speyer. "With the availability of convenient, Class A space in short supply, Tishman Speyer is well positioned to take advantage of the emerging local marketplace opportunities."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.