Blackstone Selling Bryant Park Tower

The Blackstone Group, a NYC-based multinational private equity, investment banking, alternative asset management and financial services corporation, is preparing to sell New York's 1095 Avenue of the Americas, a 42-story office tower that may fetch one of the highest prices ever for a U.S. skyscraper, according to a GlobeSt.com report. Blackstone has reportedly hired Eastdil Secured to market the tower, which serves as the headquarters of Verizon Communications Inc. The 1.2 million-square-foot tower was purchased in 2007 by Blackstone as part of its takeover of Sam Zell's Equity Office Properties Trust. According to a Bloomberg report, Blackstone is seeking as much as $2.25 billion for the 42-story office tower.

"If they were to hit this number, it would show the market is still extremely strong for these assets," commented Ben Thypin, director of market analysis at Real Capital Analytics. "If you want to buy an office building of this size, you only have so many choices." A spokesperson for Blackstone declined to comment on the Bloomberg report.

Constructed from 1972 to 1974 as headquarters of New York Telephone, 1095 Avenue Of The Americas received a $260 million renovation which upgraded the office space from Class B+ to Class A office space from 2006 to 2007. Originally, restoration was intended to be limited to structural maintenance, but later the building's developer, Equity Office Properties Trust, decided to upgrade the Class B+ property to Class A office space. The tower holds primarily office space, but some of the upper floors contains telecommunications equipment.

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Blackstone To Sell Five Boston Towers for $2.1B

Oxford Properties Group, the property investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), is leading a consortium of buyers that has agreed to buy five high-rise office towers in Boston, MA from Blackstone Group for about $2.1 billion. According to a Boston Globe article, Blackstone originally acquired the properties when it bought Equity Office Properties Trust, a landlord built by the Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell, for $39 billion in 2007. Oxford Properties oversees about $20 billion of assets it manages for itself and on behalf of partners. Other bidders on the Boston portfolio reportedly include the Government of Singapore, and a joint venture of Norway's sovereign wealth fund and MetLife Inc.

As part of the agreement, Oxford would buy all of 100 High St. and 125 Summer St., according to a Wall Street Journal report. Oxford intends to partner with the asset management arm of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. to buy three towers: 60 State St., 225 Franklin St. and One Memorial Dr. in neighboring Cambridge. The five-building portfolio totals almost 3.3 million square feet and are properties mostly in downtown Boston.

Blackstone Group is also selling its ownership stake in another Boston building in the portfolio, Rowes Wharf, to Morgan Stanley, which is its partner in the building.

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