AIG looks to sell Downtown headquarters

Insurance giant American International Group is looking to sell its Financial District headquarters ahead of a relocation to Midtown.

AIG is shopping its 31-story office tower at 175 Water Street for sale with an asking price near $275 million, sources told The Real Deal.

As part of a sale, AIG is looking to do a short-term leaseback with the new owner through the end of 2021 as the insurance company relocates offices to the Rockefeller Group’s 1271 Sixth Avenue.

A spokesperson for AIG declined to comment. An Eastdil Secured team of Gary Phillips, Brett Siegel, Evan Layne, Jeff Organisciak and Alex Scheetz is marketing the property. A representative for the brokers declined to comment.

The asking price for the 684,000-square-foot tower between John and Fletcher streets works out to roughly $400 per square foot.

AIG acquired the building in the 1990s, and in 2013 moved its headquarters into the building from nearby at 180 Maiden Lane.

AIG is reportedly moving its headquarters to the former Time-Life Building in Midtown, which the Rockefeller Group has been redeveloping.

The insurance company’s Lower Manhattan building is being pitched as a rare opportunity to acquire a 100 percent vacant office property that can be repositioned in the Downtown market.

The Downtown market saw 2 million square feet of leasing activity in the first quarter of the year, according to CBRE. That was the second-highest quarterly total in more than seven years.

Asking rents remained relatively flat year-over-year at a little more than $62 per square foot.

AIG has invested $45 million in the property since 2010, including a façade renovation and elevator modernization.

In early April, TRD reported that JPMorgan is looking to sell its Lower Manhattan office building at 195 Broadway for as much as $800 million. Elsewhere in the neighborhood, Fosun International denied it was looking to sell 28 Liberty for $1.6 billion, and was instead seeking a minority partner for the tower.