NEW YORK CITY-The Starrett-Lehigh Building, at 601 W. 26^th St. in far-west Chelsea, has officially been sold to RXR Realty. As GlobeSt.com previously reported, a deal had been in the works for some time for the 2.3-million-square-foot office building. 

The purchase price was $920 million, which comes out to roughly $400 per square foot. A $30 million capital improvement program to renovate portions of the building was recently completed, but William Elder, RXR’s EVP and managing director, New York City, tells GlobeSt.com that a planned $50 million investment will “take it to the next level.” It’s not clear yet exactly how the $50 million will be spent, but Elder anticipates improvements to the building’s lobby, among other areas.

The building, which occupies an entire city block, was attractive to Elder and his team in part because of its immense size.

“Just the sheer scale of the asset and then the embedded tenancy inside of it was extremely attractive,” Elder says. “The improvements to the neighborhood, such as the infrastructure improvements that are almost complete with the 7 line, which will be activated at some point next year, and the opening of the 26^th street entrance to the highline just a block away really created the strong desire to buys this asset.”

The building is almost completely occupied, at 93 percent, with tenants like Martha Stewart Omnimedia, Hugo Boss, Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren. Elder sees the tenancy remaining as the creative class, looking to take advantage of the live-work environment the property’s proximity to central Chelsea provides.

The sellers in the deal were Shorenstein Properties and an investment group. Eastdil Secured marketed the property.