New York REIT goes public in a first for the markets

Company is the only exchange-listed real estate investment trust focused solely on NYC

Nicholas Schorsch
Nicholas Schorsch

American Realty Capital’s New York REIT listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange today, in a first for a real estate firm that specializes in solely New York City properties.

New York REIT, led by Nicholas Schorsch as American Realty CEO and Michael Happel as president of the trust, zeroes in on retail and office buildings that are no more than 20 percent vacant at the time of acquisition. The REIT – founded in 2010 and formerly known as the New York Recovery REIT — quickly exploded into one of the city’s most aggressive players. The property trust acquired about $1.8 billion worth of New York City real estate in 2013, mostly Manhattan core office and retail properties. Happel set a goal of spending another $1 billion on commercial real estate in Manhattan over the next year, in the wake of acquiring an office building at 1440 Broadway last October for $529 million, as The Real Deal first reported.

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Schorsch told TRD the initial public offering will “allow us to lower the cost of capital” and lead to a broader availability of money to spend.

Empire State Realty Trust and SL Green, both publicly traded REITs, have properties outside of New York City. [Bloomberg News]Mark Maurer