Time Equities buys West Side tower for $70M

Time Equities has purchased 127-135 West 33rd Street from Savanna Partners and The City Investment Fund for $70.5 million.

The 16-story building has 152,000 square feet of office space, which could be converted to office condos, and 19,000 square feet of retail space.

The previous owners made a quick, big profit on the property. In May, City Investment Fund and Savanna Investment bought the building for just $43 million.

Time Equities CEO Francis Greenburger said on The Real Deal’s webcast the purchase is part of the company’s drive to become bigger players in the office condo market.

Greenburger said that the purchase price was about 7 percent lower than expected because of the tightening credit market and the lack of big competitors for the property.

Greenburger also said that fewer banks were offering financing than earlier this year.

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“There were very few players and in the end we ended up financing it with two banks, partnering, because neither one wanted to take the exposure themselves,” he said.

In February, Time Equities paid $61.5 million for a 16-story, 160,000 square foot office building at 70 West 36th Street. It obtained 90 percent financing and “had 10 lenders who wanted to do the transaction.”

For the new purchase, Time Equities received only 75 percent financing.

Both properties could become office condos, which Greenburger said are attractive because they provide businesses “with fixed costs over a long period of time.”

Known as the Children’s Wear Building, the 33rd St. property’s retail tenants include the Stout NYC bar and Fat Annie’s restaurant. Office and showroom tenants include Perry Ellis.

Greenburger and Bijan Karimian represented Time Equities, while Woody Heller and Will Silverman of Studley represented the seller.