B&H Photo Buys Brookfield’s 333 West 34th Street at $105M Discount

Photography retailer B&H Photo has purchased Brookfield (BN) Asset Management’s 10-story office building in Manhattan’s Garment District at a $105 million discount, according to city records and The Real Deal.

B&H, through the entity SV333 Realty, bought the property at 333 West 34th Street from Brookfield, which used the entity BPrep 333 W 34th, for $150 million, records show.

That’s a steep drop from the $255 million Brookfield paid for the roughly 307,000-square-foot building in January 2018, according to PincusCo, which first reported the news. The Real Deal reported B&H was the buyer.

Zalman Gottlieb — who TRD said is the financial controller of B&H — signed for the buyer, while Michael Speer, a managing director at Brookfield, signed for the seller, records show.

It’s unclear who brokered the deal. A spokesperson for B&H did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

B&H’s exact plans for the building between Eighth and Ninth avenues are unclear, but it seems the company may be relocating from its sprawling New York City superstore just around the corner at 420 Ninth Avenue.

“The sale of 333 West 34th Street to a user is a win for both parties, granting the strategic buyer control over its future home and allowing Brookfield to deploy capital toward high-performing assets elsewhere,” a spokesperson for Brookfield said in a statement sent to Commercial Observer.

Current tenants of 333 West 34th include the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s business service center, chocolatier Godiva’s corporate office, and financial services firm Segal Rogerscasey.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.