SL Green Sells Former WeWork Location at 609 Fifth for $100M
By Rebecca Baird-Remba June 6, 2022 6:51 pm
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SL Green Realty Corp. unloaded the office portion of 609 Fifth Avenue for $101 million, the real estate investment trust announced Monday.
The company called the buyer a “domestic investor,” and a spokesperson declined to comment on the identity of the purchaser. The 139,000-square-foot office condominium at East 49th Street and Fifth Avenue was previously leased to WeWork, which decided to give up the space last year. WeWork (WE) paid SL Green $11.4 million as part of a legal settlement following the lease termination, according to SL Green’s third-quarter 2021 earnings report. SL Green has been marketing 11 stories of offices in the building, but the floors are still vacant.
SL Green previously sold the retail portion of the building for $168 million to Reuben Brothers in May 2020. The 29,000-square-foot space is currently leased to Puma, which occupies 24,000 square feet, and Vince, which has a 5,000-square-foot store.
“SL Green continues to work aggressively to drive value for our shareholders through strategic dispositions that generate incremental liquidity for reinvestment and debt repayment,” Harrison Sitomer, the chief investment officer of SL Green, said in a statement. “The sale of 609 Fifth Avenue is evidence of the continued demand and premium valuation for well-located assets in Midtown East.”
WeWork has kept a relatively low profile during the pandemic. But it has been quietly terminating leases and subleasing large blocks of space, including 160,000 square feet at 437 Madison Avenue earlier this year.
Rebecca Baird-Remba can be reached at rbairdremba@commercialobserver.com.
