Canadian property investor Ivanhoe Cambridge and Chicago-based Callahan Capital Partners are in contract to buy Blackstone’s Group’s 1095 Sixth Avenue for about $2.25 billion, sources told the Wall Street Journal. If completed, the deal would be the priciest sale of an individual office building in the U.S. since the GM Building at 767 Fifth Avenue last traded hands in 2008 for $2.8 billion.
The 42-story, 1.2 million-square-foot tower is located between 41st and 42nd streets and overlooks Bryant Park. Major office tenants include insurance giant MetLife and Verizon Communications, while Whole Foods is also taking a large retail space at the base of the tower. Norwegian sovereign fund Norges Bank Investment Management was gunning to buy the property from Blackstone, as The Real Deal reported.
Eastdil Secured’s Douglas Harmon and Adam Spies brokered the transaction.
Ivanhoe and Callahan recently teamed up on a $150 million minority stake purchase in an office building at 330 Hudson Street. Earlier this month, Blackstone agreed to buy an office building at 1740 Broadway from Vornado Realty Trust for $605 million. [WSJ] – Hiten Samtani