By Gus Delaporte 5/08 1:00pm

Sales Beat

425 Lexington Avenue

Hines Properties to Be Sold in $1 Billion Deal

Hines has selected buyers for its properties at 499 Park Avenue and 425 Lexington Avenue, it was announced today. The properties, part of the Hines U.S. Core Office Fund, are set to be acquired by American Realty Advisors and institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management, respectively, for a combined total of over $1 billion.

“New York has demonstrated a capacity for large scale capital transactions,” Tommy Craig, senior managing director at Hines, told The Commercial Observer. “That has been validated [in these transactions.]” Read More

By Al Barbarino 4/25 1:02pm

Sales Beat

(Credit: Macklowe Properties)

125 West 55th Sells for $470 M. Amid Push to Unload Class A Towers

In another whopping example of large real estate owners seeking to capitalize on current market conditions by unloading top-shelf inventory, Boston Properties has reportedly sold its 23-story office building at 125 West 55th Street for $470 million to J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

The deal follows a string of other Class A building sales this year – 550 Madison Avenue, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, 237 Park Avenue and 75 Rockefeller Plaza – which accounted for $3.8 billion of the city’s first quarter dollar volume and created a 46% year-over-year jump, according to data from Avison Young. Read More

By Al Barbarino 2/26 11:03am

Development

Rendering of 7 Bryant Park

Developers Break Ground at 7 Bryant Park

Developers broke ground at 7 Bryant Park yesterday, with a consortium of public officials including Mayor Michael Bloomberg gathering to pitch the trophy office tower as a boon for the city.

Politicians are touting the planned 28-story, 470,000-square-foot steel and glass tower, slated for completion in the first quarter of 2015, as a magnet for good jobs, talent and companies.

“The best days are still to come to Bryant Park – a place the city has worked hard to bring roaring back to life,” Mr. Bloomberg said at the ceremony, adding that the project will bring “more top-tier, cutting-edge commercial space, and more leading companies and their tax revenue to Midtown Manhattan.” Read More

By Daniel Edward Rosen 6/21/12 8:30am

Mortar and Managers

130 Prince Street (image courtesy of CoStar)

Kaufman Organization Tapped as Building Managers for 130 Prince

The Kaufman Organization has been tapped as the building manager for 130 Prince Street, a Soho property it previously owned before it sold it to Waterman Interests and J.P. Morgan Asset Management for $112 million in 2007.

Invesco Real Estate, the Dallas-based firm that purchased 130 Prince Street in May for $140.5 million, hired the Kaufman Organization based on its success transforming 100-104 Fifth Avenue into an office hotspot for tech giants like Yelp and Apple’s iAd division. Read More

By Daniel Edward Rosen 3:45pm

finance beat

A rendering of 7 Bryant Park

7 Bryant Park Gets All-Equity Financing, Construction Set To Start

Houston-based development company Hines has received an all-equity investment from J.P. Morgan Asset Management for 7 Bryant Park, the 28-story office tower designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners that, when completed, will overlook Bryant Park and beyond neighboring New York Public Library.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s investment is believed to be worth upwards of $350 million, industry sources told The Commercial Observer.  Read More