Extell, liquidating assets ahead of new tower, sells Riverside Center development for $70M

Gary Barnett, 1780 Broadway, the site of the new tower, and a rendering of Building 2
Gary Barnett, 1780 Broadway, the site of the new tower, and a rendering of Building 2

Extell head Gary Barnett and partner the Carlyle Group yesterday sold the Building 2 site at the Riverside Center development for $70 million, as Extell begins raising capital for its new 57th Street tower — currently poised to become the tallest residential building in the United States, the New York Post reported.

The buyers of the complicated $420 million development were Dermot and AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust. The project calls for 616 residential rentals, retail space and a school and has a $275 million state Housing Finance Agency bond mortgage with credit enhancements through Bank of America and Capital One.  The 640,000-square-foot Building 2, which is located at the southwest corner of West 61st Street, it will be known as 21 West End Avenue.

“We think we paid a fair price and the overall costs make this an excellent opportunity for us,” Stephen Benjamin, Dermot COO, said. The site was marketed by Andrew Scandalios of HFF.

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On Monday, Extell announced that it would be hiring Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, the designers of the world’s tallest building, the 2,717-foot Burj Khalifa in Dubai, to design its new 1,550-foot 57th Street tower. In preparation for the massive project Extell appears to be liquidating select assets, according to the Post. For instance, Extell is closing this week on a $66 million deal for its 182-unit Westbourne Apartment Complex On West 137th Street. Bonjour Equities is the buyer and Georgia Malone of Georgia Malone represented Extell.

Extell also recently sold the leasehold on 175 Varick Strett for $32.75 million to WeWork and AEW Capital Management and Massey Knakal, on behalf of Extell, is marketing a garage, at West 24th to West 25th streets between Sixth and Seventh avenues, for about $85 million. In fact, Knakal has been marketing 59 of Extell’s buildings and is closing this month with 27 of those properties sold,  according to the Post. “This is the best month in my career,” Robert Knakal said. [NYP]Christopher Cameron