Hyundai Buys Tribeca Building for $275M

Hyundai Motor Group has purchased for $275M a redeveloped, eight-story boutique office building in Lower Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood, near the Holland Tunnel.

The Seoul, South Korea-based automaker plans to use the building for its NYC offices and a ground-floor showroom. The company acquired the property at 15 Laight Street from developer Vanbarton in a cash transaction brokered by Newmark.

Vanbarton redeveloped the 108K SF property, putting outdoor terraces on each floor. The sleek structure, with double-sized windows in a configuration resembling a futuristic pagoda, is surrounded by trees, separating the building from the non-stop traffic near the entrance to the tunnel. The building is within walking distance of the World Trade Center.

Hyundai, a conglomerate that owns the Kia and Hyundai brands (as well as the steelmaker the forges the chassis parts for all the vehicles) pledged in 2021 to invest billions in the US by 2025, including new EV vehicle assembly plants. The company’s major US assembly plant is in Montgomery, AL.

The move by Hyundai to buy its own office building in Manhattan is part of a growing trend of companies expanding their base in the Big Apple and owning their own real estate, according to a report in Bloomberg.

According to a Q4 report from Newmark, office transactions in Manhattan have slowed dramatically, as cost-cutting measures—and the new normal for office workers: a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in-office work week—reduce demand for space.

[Vornado CEO Steven Roth said in a Q4 earnings call this week that Friday will be “a holiday” from now on, in terms of in-office work, and “Monday is touch and go.”]

Nearly a fifth of NYC’s office supply is available for rent, Newmark said, and major lenders are reducing their exposure to office loans, making it harder for potential buyers to get financing for acquisitions.

In terms of companies buying up—or planning—build for their office space, 2022 was a banner year.

Citadel confirmed it will build a new 1.7M SF headquarters tower on Park Avenue; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center bought most of the Lipstick Building (Bernie Madoff’s former HQ) on Third Avenue; Google bought St. John’s Terminal, a waterfront property it already was leasing, for $2.1B.

Later this year, JPMorgan will move into a new 60-story skyscraper HQ at 270 Park Avenue, a building that is planning to be NYC’s largest all-electric office tower with net zero operational emissions.