Eretz pays $70M for Midtown office building

The property, at 9 East 40th Street, was once the home of Hearst mistress Marion Davies

9 East 40th Street
9 East 40th Street

Abe Talassazan’s Eretz Group bought a Midtown office building that was once home to actress and Hearst mistress Marion Davies.

The firm purchased 9 East 40th Street for $70.3 million, according to property records filed with the city Wednesday.

The 18-story property is half a block away from the southeast corner of Bryant Park. The seller is Joseph P. Day Realty, which owned the building for around five decades. Joseph P. Day put the building on the market through CBRE in January.

The building once contained the office of William Randolph Hearst’s personal attorney, according to a 1928 article from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Davies, a Broadway actress who had a 34-year relationship with Hearst, occupied the building’s penthouse apartment.

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The roughly 86,800-square-foot office building is currently home to tenants such as law firm Quinn McCabe and consulting firm Siegelvision. The deli and wine bar Marche Madison occupies the building’s ground-floor retail space.

Eretz Group is best known for its $213.8 million purchase of the Argonaut Building in 2015. The company also owns 295 Madison Avenue, which is less than a block away from its latest acquisition.

Eretz is funding the purchase with a $50.4 million mortgage from Aareal Corporation, records show. The property was previously encumbered with $6.5 million in debt from CMFG Life Insurance Company.

Neither the buyer nor the seller immediately responded to a request for comment.