TIAA-CREF pays $144M for 475 Fifth: sources

From left: 475 Fifth Avenue, Darcy Stacom, vice chairman at CBRE
and William Shanahan, vice chairman at CBRE

Pension fund giant TIAA-CREF purchased the 280,000-square-foot office building 475 Fifth Avenue from Barclays Capital Real Estate this week for $144 million, about $4 million more than expected, according to sources involved in the transaction.

The deal closed Wednesday, sources said, at sale price of about $514 per square foot. Midtown-based TIAA-CREF had been expected to buy the building, but for $140 million or less.

A joint venture of real estate developer Joseph Moinian and Westbrook Capital acquired 475 Fifth Avenue, located at 41st Street, in 2007 for $160 million, but lender Barclays took the property back in 2009 through a deed in lieu of foreclosure. In the slow commercial real estate market of the time, Barclays sought to unload the 86-year-old office tower for just $105 million.

CB Richard Ellis investment sales brokers Darcy Stacom and William Shanahan brought the property to market and brokered the transaction. CBRE declined to comment.

It was the second closing of the day for the CBRE sales team. Also on Wednesday, they brokered the sale of the remaining 51 percent interest in the 907,427-square-foot office condominium at the Bertelsmann building at 1540 Broadway. HSBC Alternative Investments and Edge Fund Advisors bought the interest from CBRE Investors for $346.8 million, sources said.

TIAA-CREF and Barclays did not immediately respond to a request for comment.