AmTrustRE in Contract to Acquire 260 Madison Avenue for $217M

AmTrustRE is about to add another office building to its Manhattan portfolio.

The property management company is in contract to acquire the 22-story, roughly 570,000-square-foot office building at 260 Madison Avenue from Alex Sapir for $217 million, according to a Wednesday announcement from AmTrustRE.

AmTrustRE plans to invest $60 million to $70 million to “reposition and boost occupancy” at the 1950s-era office building, which is currently only about 68 percent leased, the announcement said.

Office tenants at 260 Madison currently include tax preparation service 1-800 Accountant, recruiter Household Staffing Agency, and law firms McLaughlin & Stern and Khunkhun Law. The Midtown office building sits on Madison Avenue between East 38th and East 39th streets, about two blocks from the main branch of the New York Public Library.

The transaction is currently under contract and is expected to close by the end of the year, according to AmTrustRE. The firm is also seeking financing for up to 65 percent of the purchase price, The Real Deal reported.

“260 Madison  Avenue’s prime location, combined with the property’s compelling value, offers our firm a unique opportunity to reposition the asset and capture long‑term value,” Jonathan Bennett, president of AmTrustRE, said in a statement to Commercial Observer.

“Specifically, as Manhattan’s office market continues to face increasing demand for modern office space, AmTrustRE is committed to investing the necessary capital to deliver a modern, best‑in‐class workplace that aligns with the needs of current and future tenants,” Bennett added.

Sapir’s family had owned 260 Madison — as well as 261 Madison Avenue across the street — since 1997, according to TRD. The properties were at the center of a legal dispute in 2022, when Sapir accused his brother-in-law Rotem Rosen of taking money from the sapir organization, TRD reported. The dispute was settled the same year.

Also in 2022, Sapir put both 260 and 261 Madison up for sale for a total of roughly $600 million, as CO previously reported. The move was part of his company’s shift of focus to Miami after Sapir moved to Florida in 2019.

Darcy Stacom of Stacom CRE brokered the deal for the buyer. Spokespeople for the Sapir Organization and Stacom CRE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

News of the 260 Madison deal follows AmTrustRE’s purchase in September 2024 of the 24-story office building three blocks away at 360 Lexington Avenue. AmTrustRE and private equity firm Capstone Equities acquired the asset from Savanna for $65 million — a steep discount from the $180 million Savanna paid for the building in 2019, as CO previously reported.

That building is now more than 80 percent leased following several recent leases there, signed by commercial bank Webster Bank, insurance group Signers National and nonprofit Citymeals on Wheels.

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