Half-empty 246 Fifth Avenue fetches $19M in online auction

New York-based HH Realty Equities purchased 246 Fifth Avenue last week in an Internet auction, paying within $1 million of the half-empty building’s value before the real estate market fallout in 2008.

The six-story office tower fetched $19 million in the sale, conducted on Auction.com, an online real estate broker, Bloomberg News reported. LNR Partners, a special servicer, filed to foreclose on the building’s previous owner Argus Realty 246 LLC in 2011, after it defaulted on $14.5 million in debt.

The property’s value had soared to $20 million in 2007, only to tumble to an $8.4 million low by September 2012, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“If this building is back to the peak that means everything in the city is back to the peak,” Ben Thypin, director of market analysis for Real Capital Analytics, told Bloomberg. “This particular property needs a lot of work.”

Currently 40 percent leased by companies renting small spaces, HH Realty may convert the building into residential or hotel space, Ariel Akkad, a principal at the firm, told Bloomberg. [Bloomberg News] — Julie Strickland