Billy Macklowe, Principal Financial buy Hell’s Kitchen office building for $107M

186K sf property sold three times in five years

311 West 43rd Street in Hell's Kitchen and Billy Macklowe (credit: STUDIO SCRIVO)
311 West 43rd Street in Hell's Kitchen and Billy Macklowe (credit: STUDIO SCRIVO)

Billy Macklowe’s William Macklowe Company and a subsidiary of Iowa-based Principal Financial Group acquired a 14-story office building in Hell’s Kitchen from Atlas Capital Group for $107 million, sources told The Real Deal.

This is the third trade in five years for the 186,000-square-foot property at 311 West 43rd Street. Located between Eighth and Ninth avenues, it is perhaps best known as the former headquarters of publishing giant Charles Scribner’s Sons and is home to Michelin-starred Chinese eatery Hakkasan. About 60,000 square feet of the office space is available for lease.

The buyers, who paid about $575 per square foot, are planning capital improvements, including an expansion and upgrade of the lobby and the addition of a roof deck and amenities room, sources said.

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The seller, Atlas Capital, paid Zuberry Development Company $62.4 million, or about $335 a foot, for the property in 2013. Zuberry paid $40 million to buy out a Durst Organization-affiliated entity and took full control of the property in 2010. Eastern Consolidated’s Brian Ezratty and Scott Ellard, who brokered those two previous sales as well as this one to Macklowe and Principal Financial, could not be reached for comment.

This is the second time Macklowe and Principal Financial have partnered on an acquisition. They paid $111.5 million in 2012 for a 20-story office building at 386 Park Avenue South. They sold the property in January for $201.5 million.

Last month, Macklowe, son of 432 Park Avenue developer Harry Macklowe, secured a $124 million construction loan to build condos on the former Bowlmor Lanes site in Greenwich Village.