Insignia/ESG executive managing directors Richard Baxter and Ron Cohen represented SL Green in the transaction. I/ESG began marketing the property in July, 2002, and Moinian wanted in from the start, Baxter tells GlobeSt.com. "Mr. Moinian's interest was there from day one of the marketing," Baxter says. "We had a couple of transactions at higher prices that fell out during contractions. Moinian stepped up and persevered. He signed a hard contract with a deposit last week."

Baxter adds that the 98%-occupied building has "no leasing risk in the current market." Current tenants include the Board of Education, the Institute of Culinary Education and landscape architects Volmer Associates. Would-be buyers in the running prior to Moinian included an opportunity fund and a pension fund advisor "that we couldn't come to terms with," Baxter tells GlobeSt.com. In the end Moinian won out over an unnamed local investor.

After acquiring the 330,000-sf property in 1997 for $36.6 million, just as the firm was launching its IPO, Stephen L. Green upgraded and repositioned the asset. Closing on the sale is expected within 60 days and proceeds will be used to pay off an existing $21-million first mortgage, with the remainder to be reinvested into the 1.1 million-sf News Building, 220 E. 42nd St., and the 15-floor office condominium space at 125 Broad St., two recent Moinian acquisitions. (Click here to read earlier story.)