New York State Finishes Sale of $61.5 Million Downtown Condo
By Daniel Geiger September 18, 2012 12:24 pm
reprintsNew York State has completed the sale of a $61.5 million condo it purchased in 2006 at 125 Maiden Lane.
The state, through the Empire State Development Corporation, the economic agency that owned the space, just sold the 14th floor in the Downtown building, a roughly 18,200 square foot space, for $5.9 million.
SCPG Property, a China based publishing group, was the buyer in the deal, which was arranged by Michael Rudder, a specialist in condo sales who has handled a number of transactions at 125 Maiden Lane.
The ESDC purchased seven floors at 125 Maiden Lane from Time Equities, a real estate investment firm that converted the 340,000-square-foot building into commercial condos. The space was originally intended as a facility in which to relocate several offices the state currently has at 633 Third Avenue, including both the state governor’s and the ESDC’s Manhattan headquarters spaces.
The state reconsidered that plan shortly after making the acquisition however and never made the move, deciding instead to sell the floors one by one.
Mr. Rudder, who used to work at Time Equities until starting his own firm Rudder Property Group in 2010, sold the state the space and has worked with it to find buyers. While still at Time Equities, Mr. Rudder arranged several transactions, including deals with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, which acquired 12,000 square feet, Planned Parenthood and the Guttmacher Institute, which both purchased 25,500 square feet and the Consulate General of Trinidad and Tobago.
All of the space had been absorbed but the 14th floor, but eventually that offering too garnered interest.
“By the time it sold, there were several different buyers who were competing to buy it,” Mr. Rudder told The Commercial Observer.
Not-for-profit companies often seek to buy space because their tax-exempt status allows them to save on paying property taxes that would otherwise be built into the cost of leasing a space – making ownership oftentimes a more economical option. Mr. Rudder said foreign companies have also become active buyers.
“There is a cultural preference to own among many foreign groups,” Mr. Rudder explained. “Especially buyers from Asia, where owning your own space is a more common type of arrangement for commercial tenants.”
Mr. Rudder said New York State profited slightly from the investment.
“The state was definitely in the black even when factoring the costs of holding the space for a few years,” Mr. Rudder said.
