237 Park Ave./ Photo by Betsy Kim
NEW YORK CITY—A syndicate of investors led by David Werner is buying approximately 40% of 237 Park Ave., a 22-floor, 1.25 million square-foot office building valued at $1.25 billion according to Real Capital Analytics. Real Estate Alert which first reported the news noted that the sellers, RXR Realty headed by CEO Scott Rechler and Walton Street Capital, a Chicago-based private equity real estate firm, are maintaining a 60% interest in the property.
The building is currently 98% occupied, leasing to JPMorgan Chase, J. Walter Thompson and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
Cushman & Wakefield's Doug Harmon and Adam Spies represented the sellers and were the only brokers in the deal.
In October 2013, RXR and Walton Street bought the building from Lehman Brothers for $810 million, according to Real Capital Analytics. Real Estate Alert noted the owners refinanced the building with $781 million in fixed-rate debt from Morgan Stanley and Société Générale. Cushman & Wakefield brokered the loan. With the most recent sale The Real Deal reported that Werner will take on its proportional share of this debt.
RXR and Walton Street substantially upgraded the office tower. Rechler told Commercial Observer in May 2014 that the renovations would cost just under $100 million. The building spans the block from E. 45th to E. 46th streets.
It's neighbors with RXR's trophy property at 230 Park, the Helmsley Building. Traffic crosses though the Park Avenue Viaduct under an archway of the arresting Beaux Arts architecture. In 2015, RXR with Blackstone purchased this monumental building from a joint venture of Investco and Monday Properties for $1.2 billion in a deal brokered by CBRE's Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan.
In other recent Werner transactions, as reported in July 2018 in GlobeSt.com, David Werner Real Estate along with Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Deutsche Bank and the State of Wisconsin Investment Board purchased Pfizer Corporation's Manhattan headquarters at 219 E. 42nd St. and 235 E. 42nd St. for a total of $363.5 million. This deal was also brokered by the Harmon and Spies team. In addition, Werner's firm is one of the owners of 150 E. 42nd St., the building where ALM Media, the parent company of GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum relocated in August 2018.
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Betsy Kim
Betsy Kim was the bureau chief, East Coast, and New York City reporter for Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com. As a lawyer and journalist, Betsy has worked as the director of editorial and content for LexisNexis Lawyers.com, a TV/multi-media journalist for NBC and CBS affiliated TV stations in the Midwest, and an associate producer at Court TV.
