A UBS-controlled REIT has purchased the land underneath its Sports Illustrated Building for $279 million, the New York Post reported, but plans to keep the building it owns on the site under a long-term operating lease.
The seller was a partnership between Suzanne Lehmann and Zev Wolfson that purchased an interest in the land, at 135 West 50th Street, for $56 million in 2010. UBS has owned the 800,000-square-foot building since 2006, when it bought it for $332 million from Murray Hill Properties. Murray Hill had purchased it two years earlier for $143 million, and negotiated an extension of the lease through 2106.
The Post said the land sale deal closed Aug 14., the day after Wolfson died at age 84. David Werner represented the sellers, while Siderow Organization’s Brad Siderow brokered the deal for UBS, according to the Post.
Time Warner’s magazine business and editorial offices lease 240,000 square feet in the building through 2017, according to a 2010 story reported by The Real Deal about the company reviewing its office leases with Studley. [Post] — Adam Fusfeld