Rockwood Capital Sells 2 Grand Central Tower to Sovereign Partners for $273M 

Rockwood Capital has sold 2 Grand Central Tower — its trophy office tower that sits a hop, skip and a jump from its namesake train station — for $273 million, Commercial Observer has learned. 

The buyer is Sovereign Partners, led by brothers Darius Sakhai and Cyrus Sakhai, sources said. 

Eastdil Secured’s Gary Phillips and Will Silverman negotiated the sale, which closed Thursday afternoon at $3 million above the building’s asking price. 

The 667,000-square-foot asset at 140 East 45th Street rises 44 stories between Lexington and Third avenues, just half a block from Grand Central Terminal’s 45th Street entrance. It was constructed by Harry Macklowe in 1981, sold to BXP (then known as Boston Properties) for $705 million in 2008, and then sold again to Rockwood in 2011 for $401 million. 

MetLife is the building’s existing lender and is providing roughly 65 percent — or $177 million — of the acquisition price in new financing, sources said. 

The transaction marks just the latest in a series of Midtown East properties Sovereign Partners has added to its portfolio in the past few years. 

Last year, Sovereign snapped up the then-newly renovated 780 Third Avenue from Nuveen for $178 million in a deal also arranged by Eastdil’s Phillips and Silverman, and, in October 2023, it purchased 100-104 Fifth Avenue for $125 million — a heavy discount — from Clarion Partners, The Real Deal reported. 

A wee bit farther north, in February 2023 the firm bought Tower 56 — also known as 126 East 56th Street — from Pearlmark Real Estate for $110 million.

Sovereign Partners and Rockwood Capital didn’t immediately return requests for comment. Eastdil Secured declined to comment. 

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