Bidders want to turn Sotheby’s HQ into medical facility

Sotheby’s has decided to sell its 10-story Manhattan headquarters, at 1334 York Avenue between 71st and 72nd streets, in an effort to give back more cash to shareholders.

The art auctioneer has received first-round bids, including some from pharmaceutical companies. A few bidders plan to turn it into a medical facility. Douglas Harmon and Adam Spies of Eastdil Secured are handling marketing. In July, Related Companies bid on the 500,000-square-foot building with a proposal that tried to include Sotheby’s in its Hudson Yards project.

Activist investors Richard McGuire’s Marcato Capital Management LLC, Daniel Loeb’s Third Point LLC, and Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management LP bought a little more than 15 percent of Sotheby’s shares, as previously reported.

In 2009, Sotheby’s bought the building for $370 million from RFR Holding’s Aby Rosen. [WSJ] — Mark Maurer