Japanese real estate giant ramps up NYC investment

Mitsui Fudosan to sink between $2 billion and $3 billion into commercial holdings

From left: 1251 Avenue of the Americas, 527 Madison Avenue and 100 William Street
From left: 1251 Avenue of the Americas, 527 Madison Avenue and 100 William Street

Mitsui Fudosan, the Japanese real estate giant that owns 1251 Avenue of The Americas And 527 Madison Avenue, plans to invest as much as $3 billion in Manhattan real estate over the next few years.

The company is currently in talks for two major development projects totaling over 1 million square feet, Keith Purcell, Mitsui Fudosan’s Americas vice president, told Real Estate Weekly. Though he declined to disclose specifics, he told the news site that the move is part of a plan to diversify Mitsui Fudosan’s holdings by 2017.

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“North of 90 percent of our current assets are in Japan, and our focus is on becoming a more globally diversified organization,” he told REW, adding that the company has plans to invest heavily in Europe and other Asian countries as well. “Lately we’ve been more focused on office and residential new development because we think pricing on existing product is rather lofty.”

The company was one of a number of Japanese companies that flocked to New York City in the 1980s, snapping up buildings like the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center. When the bubble burst in the late 1980s many departed, but investment has since rebounded. Japanese investment have since picked up $212 million worth of Big Apple office properties, though the number lags behind the $1.4 billion invested by China, Canada’s $893 million or Norway’s $884. Mitsui Fudosan sold a 21-story office building at 100 William Street for $170 million in October to Canadian insurance firm Manulife. [REW]Julie Strickland