Extell Development pays $63M for Diamond District parcel

Purchase appears to be part of company’s assemblage play for massive hotel

572 Fifth Avenue and Extell Development CEO Gary Barnett (Credit: Google Maps)
572 Fifth Avenue and Extell Development CEO Gary Barnett (Credit: Google Maps)

Gary Barnett’s Extell Development has spent $62.5 million to purchase 572 Fifth Avenue in what appears to be part of the firm’s assemblage play in the Diamond District.

The company bought the office building from Braha Industries, according to property records. It stands six stories tall and spans about 12,000 square feet.

Extell and Braha did not respond to requests for comment.

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Barnett, who previously worked in the diamond industry, has been planning a secretive development in the area for years that was just revealed in November to be a hotel with several hundred rooms. The firm closed on the four-story building at 32 West 48th Street for $40 million that month and also bought several neighboring buildings and air rights for a total of $85 million.

Construction on the hotel should start in about five months. The project will link West 48th Street to the diamond block on West 47th Street.

Barnett is also currently working on the $4 billion Central Park Tower.