JPMorgan sells 1 Chase Manhattan to Chinese group for $725M

JPMorgan Chase has agreed to sell 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza, a 2.2 million-square-foot Lower Manhattan office tower, to the investment arm of a Chinese industrial giant for $725 million.

Fosun International, owned by Chinese billionaire Guo Guangchang, beat out a number of other suitors for the 60-story building, including RXR Realty’s Scott Rechler, Tishman Speyer and Boston Properties, according to the company’s recent filing on the Hong Kong stock exchange seen by Bloomberg News.

“There’s a lot of excess capital in China that needs a way out at the moment,” Simon Lo, a Hong Kong-based executive at commercial brokerage Colliers International, told Bloomberg News. The purchase could also be a way for the company to take advantage of the U.S. real estate recovery, Lo added.

The property sits on a 2.5-acre parcel bounded by Nassau, Liberty, William and Pine streets. Market observers have said that the building could be converted into high-end residential or hotel use. A spokesperson for Fosun declined to comment to Bloomberg News on their plans for the building. A JPMorgan spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment. [Bloomberg News]  – Hiten Samtani