Midtown East Office Tower Headed for Foreclosure Auction 

The recent momentum of office leasing near Grand Central Terminal was not enough to save one Midtown East office tower from foreclosure.

Clarion Partners and Alchemy Properties, owners of  209-211 East 43rd Street, defaulted on a $65 million loan originated in 2015 by Signature Bank, Crain’s New York Business reported Monday. The 24-story building will now be sold at a foreclosure auction June 16 at the New York County Courthouse, according to Crain’s, which cited a legal notice.

The 1928-built building has encountered vacancy issues on its upper floors  in recent years, and the owners agreed to a loan modification with Signature in 2022, according to Crain’s. Signature Bank was shuttered in early 2023 as part of a wider regional banking crisis and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation sold the majority of its office-backed loans to a Blackstone-led joint venture later that year. 

The 209-211 East 43rd Street property inked leases in spring 2022 from Time Out Group, the Special Olympics and the International Committee of the Red Cross in spring 2022, Commercial Observer previously reported.

Clarion and Alchemy did not immediately return requests for comment.

Andrew Coen can be reached at acoen@commercialobserver.com.