Jamestown likely to nix $115M Fifth Ave. purchase

Jamestown CEO Matt Bronfman
Jamestown CEO Matt Bronfman

Jamestown Properties may abandon a deal to Buy A Fifth Avenue office building after the tenant, a unit of financial publisher Forbes Media, repeatedly failed to pay rent, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources familiar with the situation.

Jamestown, the Atlanta-based developer that is also seeking to expand the Chelsea Market, was set to pay $115 million for the 11-story property. But shortly after the company struck a deal with the building’s owner, RFR Realty, in July, the Forbes unit stopped paying rent, sources told the Journal.

Aby Rosen’s RFR is exploring legal options, a source told the Journal.

A spokesperson for Forbes Media largely declined to comment to the Journal, except to say that the publisher “is on solid financial footing, and the company is profitable.”

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Forbes has moved much of its staff out of the building, but still has a lease for about 110,000 square feet of the 140,000-square-foot building. Forbes has been paying $8 million annually to rent the space. The lease expires in 2020.

The address of the property was not immediately clear. [WSJ, 1st item]Leigh Kamping-Carder