Invesco Under Contract to Sell Mercedes House Resi Condo to Empire Capital: Sources
Start your engines.
By Cathy Cunningham December 14, 2022 12:53 pm
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Invesco Real Estate is under contract to sell its residential condominium The Collection at Mercedes House to Empire Capital Holdings for “upward of $100 million,” sources familiar with the deal told Commercial Observer.
The sale of the 162-unit luxury multifamily asset — which spans 144,328 square feet and occupies the top 10 floors of 550 West 54th Street — is expected to close early next year, with Empire currently seeking acquisition financing, sources said.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Adam Spies, Marcella Fasulo, Adam Doneger and Michael Collins negotiated the sale, while C&W’s Gideon Gil is currently in the market with the financing mandate, sources said. A five- to seven-year loan with a roughly 65 percent leverage point is sought, with bids due early next year. C&W officials declined to comment.
The S-shaped, winding complex at 550 West 54th, dubbed the Mercedes House, was designed by Enrique Norton and developed by Two Trees Management and takes its name from the luxury car dealership that sits at its base. While the tower comprises 974 units in total, Invesco carved out the top 10 floors in 2014, paying $170 million at the time.
The Collection at Mercedes House occupies the tower’s 22nd to 32nd floors, and boasts unobstructed west-facing views of the Hudson River. Its top notch amenity package includes an indoor basketball court, an indoor lap pool, an outdoor pool, clubhouse lounges and nearby trails for walking and cycling. Residents also have access to the 80,000-square-foot Mercedes Club, which includes a 30,000-square-foot gym, a swimming pool, an outdoor movie theater, a putting green and a bocce court.
As of September, The Collection component was 98 percent occupied, averaging $92-per-square-foot rents on leases executed after July 2022.
The deal went under contract last week. Sources familiar with the bidding process said interested buyers ranged from Core-plus funds to private domestic capital to foreign capital, and the sale demonstrates the ample capital still available for Class A multifamily product.
Only last month, Empire Capital Holdings made another significant purchase in the city with the $320 million acquisition of 1330 Avenue of the Americas. The firm snapped the 40-story office building from RXR and Blackstone, bagging a $215 million loan from Deutsche Bank in the process.
The same C&W team behind The Collection at Mercedes House also recently arranged RXR, Macquarie Capital Principal Finance and the Qatar Investment Authority’s $261 million preferred equity investment in a multifamily portfolio owned by the late Sheldon Solow.
Officials at Empire Capital Holdings and Invesco weren’t immediately available for comment.
Cathy Cunningham can be reached at ccunningham@commercialobserver.com.
