ESRT Acquires 555-557 Broadway From Scholastic for $386M
By Mark Hallum December 2, 2025 1:31 pm
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Publishing house Scholastic wrote the epilogue on its ownership of 555-557 Broadway with the sale of the SoHo building to Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT).
Scholastic made a strong profit in the $386 million sale after acquiring the property in 2014 for $255 million, according to property records and the real estate investment trust, which said that it plans to lease out the three vacant floors.
Located between Spring and Prince streets, the building has a total of 368,000 square feet of office and 28,000 square feet of retail space with 70 percent of the building leased, including 222,000 square feet occupied by Scholastic.
ESRT chairman Anthony Malkin said it plans to “bring this combination of contractual revenue, embedded growth and significant value-creation potential from our ability to market the three uniquely large floors in a more than 110,000-square-foot block.”
Newmark’s Adam Spies, Josh King and Avery Silverstein represented the seller in the transaction but declined to comment.
Scholastic has been exploring its options for a possible partial or full sale of the property with lease-back options for several months, Commercial Observer reported in June. The publishing company’s main offices are at 148 Lafayette Street, a 12-story office building owned by Tishman Speyer.
One recent lease signing in the building includes workspace provider Convene, which took 32,000 square feet to accommodate 450 clients on the second floor of the building in July.
Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.
