CalPERS, a California pension fund, is negotiating a $1.9 billion contract to pick up a Midtown office tower at 787 Seventh Avenue, one of two properties being shopped by AXA Financial. As The Real Deal reported Thursday, Scott Rechler’s RXR Realty is close to a deal for the other tower, at 1285 Sixth Avenue, for $1.7 billion.
The 51-story, 1.7 million-square-foot office property at 1285 Sixth Avenue, between West 51st and 52nd streets, is known as the AXA Equitable Center and is almost fully occupied. It was constructed in 1985.
CalPERS will likely sign a contract by the year’s end, with the closing slated for the first quarter of 2016, the New York Post reported.
Together, the adjacent towers, which sit on a four-acre site, are expected to sell for $3.6 billion. Both deals would chart among the priciest single-building sales in New York City history.
Swiss bank UBS AG signed a lease at 787 Seventh for 120,000 square feet in 2013. The company has long occupied 900,000 square feet at 1285 Sixth.
Since August, Douglas Harmon and Adam Spies have been marketing the buildings on behalf of AXA Financial, the U.S. arm of the French investment firm. AXA fully owns 787 Seventh, and is partnered with JPMorgan Chase on 1285 Sixth.
Last month, a Blackstone Group fund agreed to buy $3 billion worth of stakes in private real estate funds from CalPERS, a record for secondary-market deals. [NYP] — Mark Maurer