Bushburg Closes on $160M Acquisition of Rudin’s 80 Pine Street With $100M Loan

Bushburg no longer needs to “pine” for a Financial District building in its portfolio. 

The Brooklyn developer closed on its $160 million acquisition of Rudin’s 80 Pine Street on Friday and locked in $100 million of financing from Carlo Bellini’s 99c for the purchase, sources with knowledge of the deal told Commercial Observer. 

Eastdil Secured’s Gary Phillips and Will Silverman represented Rudin in the sale. There were no brokers involved in the financing.

“We are proud of our long-term stewardship of 80 Pine, a building we developed and have managed for nearly 65 years,” Michael Rudin, Co-CEO of Rudin,  told CO. “We are pleased to have finalized this transaction with Bushburg.”

The Real Deal first reported news of the sale in April, stating that Joseph Hoffman’s Bushburg has plans to convert the 1.2 million-square-foot office property into residential use — following in the footsteps of several other Lower Manhattan office buildings over the past few years. 

The building at 80 Pine Street, between Water and Pearl streets, encompasses a full city block and once served as AIG’s headquarters. The insurance giant exited its 800,000-square-foot space in 2021, and the building has remained half empty since, according to TRD. 

Today, existing office tenants include nonprofit TB Alliance, injury law firm Elefterakis, Elefterakis & Panek and Vibrant Emotional Health, which runs the national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, the Disaster Distress Helpline and the NFL Life Line. 

Rudin developed the 38-story building — which boasts 360-degree views over the East River, Brooklyn and New York Harbor — and opened its doors in 1960. The firm’s marketing of 80 Pine Street began a year ago, after it had funneled $100 million into building upgrades, TRD reported at the time. 

The same Eastdil brokers also repped Rudin in the company’s sale of 55 Broad Street to Silverstein Properties and Metro Loft Management in 2022, which also was purchased for residential conversion. If 80 Pine Street is converted, it will join neighboring buildings at 25 Water Street, 160 Water Street, 90 John Street and 17 Battery Place in the Financial District’s long list of office-to-residential conversions. 

Further details around Bushburg’s plans, and timing, for a resi conversion of the building couldn’t be gleaned.

Officials at 99c and Bushburg didn’t immediately return requests for comment. 

Cathy Cunningham can be reached at ccunningham@commercialobserver.com.