ESRT Buys Ground Beneath Two Midtown Properties for $114M

Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT) has closed on a pair of deals to buy the land beneath two of its Midtown properties.

The real estate investment trust (REIT) announced Tuesday that it paid a total of $113.6 million for the dirt beneath 111 West 33rd Street and 1400 Broadway. The 33rd Street property has about 51 years remaining on its ground lease, while the ground lease on the Broadway property runs for another 38 years.

The ground lease for 1400 Broadway was purchased from Cohen Brothers Realty for $61.3 million, according to property records made public Thursday. A separate deed filing made public Thursday showed the land under 111 West 33rd Street was acquired by ESRT for $52.3 million.

Charles Cohen signed both deals for the seller, while Stephen Horn, executive vice president and chief financial officer at ESRT, signed both for the buyer, records show.

Spokespeople for ESRT and Cohen Brothers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The purchase follows ESRT’s sale in April of its 26-story office building at 250 West 57th Street to Namdar Realty Group for $275 million. That deal included the assumption of $180 million of mortgage debt by the firm led by Igal Namdar.

The deal seemed to have been made in connection with the ground lease purchases, with ESRT leading with a mention of 250 West 57th Street in its Tuesday announcement.

111 West 33rd is a 26-story office building between Avenue of the Americas and Seventh Avenue and has entryways on both West 33rd and West 34th streets, according to ESRT. 1400 Broadway stands at 35 stories, was built in 1931 and sits on the southwest corner of Broadway and West 39th Street.

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