A Lower Manhattan development parcel once owned by Kent Swig will return to the market next year and could sell for as much as $110 million, insiders said.
The potential price for the vacant parcel at 45 Broad StreetBetween Beaver Street and Exchange Place, which has 264,200 square feet of development rights, shows the enormous rise in values in the current environment compared with the prior boom.
Swig’s Swig Equities purchased the office building at 45 Broad Street in June 2006 for about $29 million, with plans to build the Nobu Hotel and Residences. But the firm lost the property to lender Lehman Brothers Holdings in the wake of the financial crisis. Lehman, in turn, sold the site in 2012 to LCOR for $14 million, city records show, as part of an $800 million package.
A Cushman & Wakefield investment sales team began marketing the site in January.
The San Francisco-based investment and development firm Carmel Partners was close to buying it for more than $110 million, a person familiar with the process said, but instead purchased 112-118 Fulton Street from the Lightstone Group, which it was considering at the same time. A spokesperson for Carmel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Subsequently, the property was taken off the market. The New York branch of commercial brokerage firm HFF, headed by Andrew Scandalios, now has the listing from the owners LCOR and the California pension fund CalSTRS. Insiders said HFF was not expected to launch marketing until the new year. An HFF spokesperson declined to comment.
Sources pointed to active players in the Downtown market as potential bidders, including Rudin Mangement, which owns 55 Broad Street, a large site adjacent to 45 Broad. The two sites could potentially be combined to build a 650,000-square-foot tower.
Other possible buyers include David Lichtenstein’s Lightstone Group, Michael Shvo, Michael Stern’s JDS Development Group, Fortis Property Group, Howard Hughes and Albanese, according to people familiar with the Downtown market.