RXR sells 49% stake in 61 Broadway office tower

Deal with offshore investor values 33-story building at $440 million

61 Broadway
Scott Rechler and 61 Broadway in the Financial District

Scott Rechler’s RXR Realty is selling a 49 percent stake in its 61 Broadway office tower in the Financial District, a deal that values the 33-story building at $440 million.

RXR is selling a stake in the property, which it acquired from Broad Street Development for $330 million in May 2014, to an unnamed offshore investor. The company tapped JLL to market the 790,000-square-foot office tower, located between Rector and Morris streets, earlier this year.

The building has undergone more than $13 million in capital improvements – including upgraded elevators, bathrooms, HVAC and common corridors – since 2008, according to the New York Observer.

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Tenants at 61 Broadway include Bjarke Ingels Group and securities firm Samuel A. Ramirez & Co. The decision to sell a lucrative minority stake in the building may be explained by the steep rise in Downtown office values — with rents in the submarket having grown 16 percent on average from last year, according to CBRE.

RXR is close to entering contract to buy the 39-story office tower at 1285 Sixth Avenue in Midtown from AXA Financial and JPMorgan Chase for around $1.7 billion, as The Real Deal reported last week.

The landlord, along with partner Blackstone Group, bought the Helmsley Building at 230 Park Avenue for $1.2 billion in August. [NYO]Rey Mashayekhi