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Steve Roth: 666 Fifth may be the rare case where Vornado is a seller
Firm has omitted the building from company leasing metrics
Steve Roth’s [TRDataCustom] Vornado Realty Trust owns 49.5 percent of Kushner Companies’ 666 Fifth Avenue, but could be gearing up to part with the struggling asset.
In his annual letter to Vornado’s shareholders, Roth wrote, “This is an ongoing, complex, dynamic, and unpredictable situation . . . and it is the rare case when we may be sellers.”
Kushner wants to redevelop the Midtown office tower into a 1,400-foot, mixed-use luxury skyscraper, complete with condominiums, a hotel and much more retail. To do that, Kushner would need significant outside investment, in part to buy out Vornado’s stake in the trophy building. Rumors circulated last month that Chinese insurer Anbang was mulling a major play at the tower that would help move Vornado out and include securing a $4 billion loan. By the end of March, however, Kushner said that it had ended any talks of partnering with Anbang.
In the event Kushner finds another investor to turn 666 Fifth Avenue into a $12 billion tower, it appears that Roth is willing to take the money and run: Vornado is not even counting 666 Fifth Avenue in its performance reports anymore.
“We have excluded 666 Fifth Avenue office from our leasing metrics,” Roth wrote, according to the New York Post. [NYP] — Will Parker
(To see a selection of other properties sold by Vornado, click here)