Planned Parenthood buys its NY HQ for $34.8M

Dispute with building owner has delayed purchase of commercial condo unit since 2003

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a non-profit organization providing reproductive health and maternal and child health services, has purchased its New York City headquarters — a commercial condo unit at 424 West 33rd Street — for $34.8 million, according to public records filed with the city today.

The healthcare organization, which reportedly signed a 20-year lease for 104,000 square feet at the 200,000-square-foot industrial-turned-office style building in 2002 for rents in the mid-$30s per square foot, bought the commercial condo from Vectra Management Group, a real estate management firm based in New York, which has owned the entire building since 2000.

Planned Parenthood had been in negotiations with Vectra to buy the building since it first moved in, in accordance with a provision in its lease that gave it the option to purchase, according to legal documents filed with the New York Supreme Court in 2010. The two parties had originally agreed to draft a sale contract shortly after the lease was signed, but their inability to come to an agreement on the terms of the deal led to seven years of negotiations, followed by legal proceedings, the legal documents said.

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It was not immediately clear what the outcome of those proceedings had dictated.

Planned Parenthood left its longtime home at 810 Seventh Avenue, between 52nd and 53rd streets, to relocate to West 33rd Street about 10 years ago. Other tenants at 424 West 33rd Street, which is located just west of Ninth Avenue, include Nestle Waters, technology firm F5 Networks and the modeling school of John Robert Powers.

Rajuh Shah, managing director at the Vectra Group, and a representative for Planned Parenthood were not immediately available for comment. E.N. Cutler, managing director at Newmark Knight Frank, which heads leasing at the building, could not be immediately reached for comment.