Olmstead Buys 19 West 44th Street From Savanna at a 45% Haircut

Savanna has sold 19 West 44th Street for a steep loss nearly nine years after acquiring the 18-story Midtown Manhattan office building for $195 million, Commercial Observer has learned.

Olmstead Properties acquired the 302,000-square-foot property in partnership with the investment platform Vertex, the developer announced Friday. No purchase price was disclosed by Olmstead.

A source familiar with the deal told CO the building sold for $108 million.

Derby Lane Partners supplied $91.4 million of acquisition financing, which will also support the sponsorship’s planned amenity upgrades — including building prebuilt suites aimed at attracting top tenants.  

The 1916-built property between Fifth and Sixth avenues is 79 percent leased, according to Olmstead, which compares to its 86 percent occupancy when Savanna acquired it from Germany-based Deka Immobilien GmbH in October 2017, as CO previously reported. Some of the largest office tenants include Yipit, Harman International, Corporate Service Corporation, EOS Products and Bitwise.  

The building recently underwent $30 million of capital improvements that positions it to compete in today’s office climate, according to Olmstead. 

“There is strong tenancy in place and recent capital improvements that have really enhanced the tenant experience, and we believe that we’re going to take it to even another level with our hands-on approach,” Steve Marvin, executive managing director at Olmstead Properties, told CO. “We are in talks with tenants already and showing spaces so we are going to start a prebuilt program consisting of about seven units ranging from 1,000 to 1,200 feet up to about 10,000 feet and with the ability to combine and create larger units.” 

Savanna did not immediately return a request for comment. 

Marvin said there has been strong leasing interest in 19 West 44th from AI companies, other tech firms, landscaped architects and the marketing industry. 

The 19 West 44th deal closed on the heels of Olmstead purchasing office assets in Manhattan’s Flatiron neighborhood at 373 Park Avenue South and 381 Park Avenue South for $104 million from ATCO Properties & Management, CO first reported at the time. Marvin said the two properties have already leased 80,000 square feet since the late 2025 acquisition with another 20,000 square feet in the works. 

Eastdil Secured’s Will Silverman and Gary Phillips arranged the latest sale on behalf of Savanna.

Vertex, an investment platform launched by Olmstead late last year, is backed by the Rosenblatt and Arnow families, two longtime major players in New York City real estate. It was co-founded by Olmstead’s acquisitions manager, Adam Arnow, and managing director of acquisitions, Patrick Pavone.

“We are continuing to execute on the strategy we laid out with the launch of Vertex — targeting well-located Manhattan office buildings where active ownership and thoughtful leasing can unlock value,” Pavone said in a statement. “19 West 44th Street is exactly that: a high-quality asset with strong fundamentals, significant leasing momentum and meaningful upside.”

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