SL Green Realty is set to acquire Park Avenue Tower, a 36-story office building at 65 East 55th Street in Manhattan’s Plaza District, for $730 million. The property is being sold by the Blackstone Group, which has invested about $925 million in purchasing and renovating the tower since 2014.
Sources told The Real Deal that SL Green moved quickly to secure the contract and preempted other bids after the building was put on the market. An Eastdil Secured team led by Gary Phillips and Will Silverman brokered the transaction.
The largest tenant in Park Avenue Tower is PineBridge Investments, which was acquired last year by MetLife for $1.2 billion and occupies approximately 75,000 square feet. Other significant tenants include BTIG, Raine Group, and a division of Creative Artists Agency.
Blackstone originally purchased the building from Shorenstein Properties for $750 million in 2014. This was not Blackstone’s first ownership; it had previously acquired the property in 2007 as part of its acquisition of Equity Office Properties before selling it to Harry Macklowe along with six other buildings. Macklowe subsequently lost the tower to Deutsche Bank during the financial crisis, after which Shorenstein bought it in 2008.
After losing two major tenants in 2016, Blackstone invested around $170 million into renovations such as a new lobby, mechanical upgrades, and transforming basement space into amenities. The firm attempted to sell the building in 2019 with an asking price of $800 million but did not close a deal at that time. Last year, Blackstone refinanced Park Avenue Tower with a $309 million CMBS loan through Morgan Stanley.
SL Green has been actively seeking acquisitions recently. Last month it entered into contract to purchase the former Brooks Brothers building on Madison Avenue with plans for new office development and has shown interest in other high-profile properties including Paramount Group and Chrysler Building.
Representatives from SL Green and Blackstone were not immediately available for comment regarding this transaction.
