Extell Finally Buys $175M Corner Parcel to Develop Full Block at 570 Fifth Avenue

Gary Barnett’s Extell Development has finally hit landfall in his decade-long pursuit of owning the full block of Fifth Avenue between West 46th and West 47th streets.

Barnett plans to build a 29-story office and retail building anchored by Ikea along a stretch of Fifth Avenue. His plans can move forward after he paid what he calls a “stupid” $175 million to South Korean clothing manufacturer Sae-A Trading Company for the empty lot at 576 Fifth Avenue, the New York Post first reported.

It now appears that Barnett will be able to combine the lot with his own 574 Fifth Avenue to create the building at 570 Fifth Avenue. The sellers made about $74 million profit on the transaction.

“We paid a stupid price but it gives us the whole block, which is amazing,” Barnett told the Post.

Sae-A Trading purchased the corner property in 2021 for $101 million and demolished the 12-story building on the property, according to the Post. While the company didn’t file any plans to replace the building, it threw a wrench in Extell’s ambitions for owning the entire block for its planned $1 billion tower.

Barnett told the Post that he would have been able to build his project without the lot, but now can make his building larger. He said he expects to file plans for the project with the New York City Department of Buildings soon.

Ikea will occupy 80,000 square feet on the first two floors of the building after Ingka Investments, Ikea’s parent company, bought a one-third stake in the building for somewhere between $300 million and $500 million in July 2024, Commercial Observer previously reported. 

Andrew Cleary of Kohn Pedersen Fox has been designing the 637,312-square-foot tower where excavation is currently underway, according to an Extell spokesperson, and it is unclear how much the addition of 576 Fifth Avenue has disrupted the plans filed in September. Barnett told the Post he expects the project to be finished in three years.

Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.