Ken Griffin agrees to $78M deal for more church air rights

Ken Griffin might as well be singing the praises of the 2017 Midtown East rezoning.

The Citadel boss, in partnership with Rudin Management and Vornado Realty Trust, is in contract to purchase up to 250,000 square feet of air rights from St. Bartholomew’s Church for $78 million, Crain’s reported, or $312 per square foot. 

The contract dates back to last spring but was only revealed on Wednesday in a court filing in Manhattan Supreme Court, due to the court approval needed for the church to sell properties. 

The deal between the sides is structured as an option. The developers paid $2 million at the contract signing and will need to pay $2 million each this year and next, then $4 million in 2026 before the deal can close. The option will expire in 2027.

The air rights would help the partners in their development of 350 Park Avenue, a planned 51-story, 1.7 million-square-foot office tower.

In 2022, Citadel agreed to lease the existing structure at 350 Park from Vornado and 40 East 52nd Street from Rudin next door. A year later, Vornado and Rudin teamed on a $40 million purchase of an adjacent townhouse.

The developers agreed in December to buy up to 525,000 square feet of air rights from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York for up to $164 million, or $312.50 per square foot, for the rights attached to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. 

The developers are also required to contribute $62.50 per square foot to the Public Realm Improvement Fund, a Midtown East group which works to improve the business district; the developers will need to contribute roughly 20 percent of the sales price to the fund with the St. Bart’s deal, approximately $62.40 per square foot.

Completion of the development is expected for 2032. Citadel is slated to occupy half of the tower.

St. Bartholomew’s has been down this road before. One year after the Midtown East rezoning allowed for the sale of air rights for projects that aren’t directly adjacent to a property, the church sold 50,000 square feet of air rights to JPMorgan Chase for $15.6 million. That was in service to the bank’s headquarters development at 270 Park Avenue, a 1,388-foot-tall project scheduled to open next year.

— Holden Walter-Warner

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