Like Gary Barnett before him, Harry Macklowe is targeting Asian buyers for his latest condominium project.
Executives from Macklowe Properties and CORE’s Shaun Osher are hitting the road this weekend to find buyers for the 566-unit residential conversion of One Wall Street. The sales roadshow will start in Hong Kong and move to Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzen, the South China Morning Post reported Tuesday. Sales in the U.S. will begin in September.
Macklowe and Osher are pitching buyers in Asia on One Wall Street’s price point: though the offering plan doesn’t list prices, Macklowe has said he’s targeting prices between $2,000 and $2,500 a square foot on the lower floors, cheaper than comparable condo units in Hong Kong.
One of the smallest units at One Wall Street, a studio at 688 square feet, is being offered for about $1,388 a square foot, while the average studio in Hong Kong would cost about $2,200 a square foot, according to the report. Macklowe has also said he is seeking between $2,500 and $3,000 a square foot for the upper floors, which includes a 12,965-square-foot penthouse.
Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber al-Thani, one of the world’s richest men and the former prime minister of Qatar, is the primary investor at One Wall Street, The Real Deal reported last year. Macklowe has just a 4.6 percent ownership stake, according to statements made at his recent divorce trial.
In February, a federal judge ruled that dozens of foreign investors whose money was misused in an EB-5 fraud scheme in Vermont can reinvest their capital in One Wall Street. According to court documents, One Wall Street’s owners have raised at least $186 million in EB-5 funds from 373 investors.
Macklowe’s trip to Asia follows Extell Development’s sales strategy at its One Manhattan Square condo tower. In 2015, Barnett marketed the project to Asian buyers in China, Malaysia and Singapore before the units were made available stateside. [SCMP] — Meenal Vamburkar