David Werner didn’t hesitate when a deal came his way in Hudson Yards.
The real estate investor snapped up 440 Ninth Avenue in the trendy neighborhood for slightly more than $100 million in cash, Bloomberg reported. The deal for the office building, located between 34th and 35th Streets, breaks down to $243 per square foot.
It’s likely a tough pill to swallow for the sellers, Taconic Investment Partners and Nuveen Real Estate, which purchased the property only seven years ago for $269 million. The transaction was a short sale, meaning the purchase price was below the outstanding mortgage balance; lender MetLife agreed to the sale.
CBRE’s Doug Middleton and Jack Stillwagon arranged the sale. Nuveen and MetLife declined to comment to the outlet, while the other parties didn’t immediately respond to the publication’s requests for comment.
The former Harding Building went up almost a century ago, spanning 411,000 square feet and rising 18 stories high. Tenants have included BlackRock and KKR.
Werner has been on a buying spree across New York City’s office market, diving into the office-to-residential conversion space.
In the spring, Madison Realty Capital provided Werner and Nathan Berman’s Metro Loft with a $720 million loan to redevelop the former Pfizer headquarters property at 235 East East 42nd Street in Midtown East. The financing likely represented a record for both the lender and the type of project being supported.
Werner’s deal in Hudson Yards may not be the last for an office property in the neighborhood.
Two months ago, Related Companies and partner Oxford Properties began exploring a sale of a portion of 35 Hudson Yards, including office, retail, fitness and hotel condominiums completed directly before the pandemic. The components could come to a $600 million price tag, sources previously told Bloomberg.
Then again, a discount is always possible. Office sale values have dropped by 37% since 2022, according to Green Street’s Commercial Property Price Index.
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TH Real Estate, Taconic buy 440 Ninth Ave for nearly $270M
Metro Loft, David Werner close record loan for office-to-resi conversion
Related looking to sell portion of 35 Hudson Yards
