Two stories on Madison Avenue cost Friedland Properties $140 million (note: correction appended). The New York Post reported that the 20,000-square-foot Bank of New York Mellon building on the Upper East Side is in contract for more than $7,000-per-square-foot to Friedland. The bank’s building, at 706 Madison Avenue, has 88 feet of Frontage On Madison Avenue and 80 feet along East 63rd Street. Italian design company Domenico Vacca has a short-term lease for some of the ground-floor.The Post said the sales prices was so high because of competition from other developers salivating over the potential to unlock an additional 50,000 square feet of developable rights. But that’s a longshot, the Post said, because the building is located squarely within the Upper East Side’s landmark district.
The building was marketed by Richard Baxter, Ron Cohen, Scott Latham and Jon Caplan of Jones Lang LaSalle. As The Real Deal has previously reported, Friedland is a dominant holder of retail on Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side. [Post, 2nd item] — Adam Fusfeld