Unizo in talks to buy 685 Third for $450M

Unizo Holdings Company is in advanced talks to buy the 27-story Midtown office building at 685 Third Avenue at a price somewhere around $450 million.

The Japanese investment firm is negotiating to acquire the building from TH Real Estate, the real estate arm of the investment firm formerly known as TIAA-CREF, for roughly $700 per square foot, Crain’s reported. That works out to a purchase price of approximately $450 million for the 646,422-square-foot tower.

A source told the publication that the deal is not finalized and it is possible another buyer could end up purchasing the tower.

Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan of CBRE are marketing the property for TH Real Estate. They both declined to comment, and representatives for Unizo did not immediately respond to requests from Crain’s.

TH Real Estate bought the building from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer during the depths of the recession in 2010 for $190 million.

Unizo, which changed its name from Jowa Holdings, recently purchased 370 Lexington Avenue, 440 Ninth Avenue and a pair of buildings near Madison Square Park. [Crain’s] – Rich Bockmann