NEW YORK CITY-CME Group, in partnership with global real estate advisor Holly Duran Real Estate Partners LLC, of Chicago, announced Wednesday it has retained Newmark Grubb Knight Frank to explore the sale of the NYMEX Building, the headquarters to the New York Mercantile Exchange. The 16-story, LEED-certified building is located at One North End Ave., overlooking the Hudson River and just west of Brookfield Place (formerly the World Financial Center) as well as the Goldman Sachs tower.
The company will continue operation of its NYMEX trading floor in New York, regardless of whether the NYMEX building is sold, according to the announcement. In the event of a sale, CME may lease back a portion of the building, including the trading floor. NGKF vice chairman Neil Goldmacher and HDREP's Holly Duran will investigate a sale-leaseback scenario as well as the possibility of relocating NYMEX to other properties in lower Manhattan.
“CME Group remains committed to our floor based membership and open outcry trading services in New York, which continue to be a profitable part of our business and serve our customers well,” said Jamie Parisi, CFO of CME Group. “The sale of the NYMEX building will help us continue to reinvest in our core derivatives business, just as we did following the sale and lease-back of office space in the CBOT building in Chicago last year. Going forward, whether we decide to retain occupancy at One North End or relocate within Lower Manhattan, we are committed to updating our New York offices.”
James Kuhn, NGKF president and head of the firm's capital markets group, and NGKF capital markets senior managing director Jennifer Schwartzman, in partnership with HDREP principal Holly Duran and associate Jeff Mulder, will market the property.
“This is a modern, iconic office tower with extraordinary infrastructure and systems,” says Duran in the announcement. “We expect strong competitive bidding and a large pool of potential buyers, including potential end users.”
Adds Kuhn in the announcement, “This is an opportune time for CME Group to engage the market. With modest yields in other asset classes and benchmark interest rates in the low single digits, institutional investors are clamoring for the limited number of trophy office assets that become available for sale in Manhattan.”
CME Group acquired the NYMEX Building, along with the exchange, in 2008. NYMEX has occupied the building since 1997. CME Group owns the building on a ground lease from New York's Battery Park City Authority that expires in June 2069.
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
