New York Office Tower Bought For US$850m
USA – 100 Pearl Street, 27-storey office building in New York, has been purchased for US$850 million, which works out to US$900 psf based on the commercial property’s 967,886 sq ft area, reported TheRealDeal last week, citing the Commercial Observer.
The seller consists of GFP Real Estate and Northwind Group, while the buyer is German-based investor Commerz Real AG. Property consultancy Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) brokered the deal.
At present, 96 percent of the office tower’s area is let and 92 percent of the occupants have agreed to lease at least until 2050. For instance, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) inked a 20-year lease, while NYC Health + Hospitals agreed to occupy 500,000 sq ft for 25 years.
Completed in 1983, the commercial property recently underwent a US$250 million refurbishment. Upgrades included a new lobby and infrastructure enhancements as well as the addition of a food hall and a rooftop amenity lounge exclusively for tenants.
Previously, GFP Real Estate and Northwind Group purchased 100 Pearl Street for US$308.5 million in 2018.
Meanwhile, Commerz Real AG had acquired severak major commercial properties in the United States in the past few years. In 2019, it bought an office block in Chicago’s Fulton Market area for US$175 million, making it one of the largest office transactions in the city that year. Commerzbank’s property division also acquired NYU Langone Medical Center for over US$330 million in 2018.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported on Saturday that office leasing activity in Manhattan surged to its highest level since late-2019.
In particular, tenants leased 669,000 sq m during the 3rd quarter, exceeding office rental volumes in Q2 2021 by 59 percent. However, this is still 12 percent lower than the borough’s 5-year rolling average, noted property consultancy Colliers.
“As the Manhattan market continues its post-pandemic recovery, the critical milestone of demand outpacing supply was reached this quarter,” said Colliers’ Senior Managing Director Franklin Wallach.
The leasing activity during the quarter under review was driven by financial firms, insurance providers, and property companies, followed by firms in the sectors of technology, advertising, media and information services.
Furthermore, asking office rents in Manhattan have mainly stabilised as it only dipped by under 0.1 percent in Q3 on a quarterly basis to US$72.74 psf on average. However, the figure represents a drop of 8.5 percent since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and is the lowest since 2017.
