DivcoWest comes out East with Midtown South building purchases

UPDATED, 10:41 a.m., Feb. 26: In an eastward expansion, San Francisco-based DivcoWest last week bought several office properties in the hot Midtown South market in a partnership with investor Bruce Brickman, the Wall Street Journal reported. DivcoWest, a real estate investment firm, and Brickman paid roughly $114 million for the buildings, 24-28 West 25th Street and 40 West 25th Street.

As would be expected, the plan is to fill the buildings, which include 270,000 square feet of space, with creative-type tenants. The partnership purchased the buildings from Yeshiva University. A Colliers International spokesperson told The Real Deal that Colliers’ Margaret O’Keeffe and James Murphy represented the sellers in the transaction.

In February, Midtown South had a 5.8 percent vacancy rate, the Journal said, citing CBRE data. Meanwhile, in central Midtown, vacancy in February ticked in at 8.1 percent.

DivcoWest recently made similarly tech-friendly purchases in Boston, the Journal said. [WSJ, 1st item] —Zachary Kussin