The Hudson Commons office building is the site of the biggest investment sale in New York City in two and a half years.
Los Angeles-based CommonWealth Partners closed on 441 Ninth Avenue on Friday for just over $1 billion, the Commercial Observer reported. The Real Deal reported last month that the adviser to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System fund was in contract to buy the office and retail building for 10 figures.
According to data and records reported by the Observer, the $1.033 billion deal is the largest investment sale in the city since June 2019, when 30 Hudson Yards was sold to a Related Companies affiliate for $2.2 billion.
Cove Property Group and Baupost Group sold the 700,000-square-foot building. The developers bought the property in 2016 for $330 million and proceeded to redevelop the former warehouse that had been converted into offices for EmblemHealth and added 17 floors before leasing to tenants like Peloton and Lyft.
Read more
![CommonWealth Partners CEO Brett Munger and Hudson Commons at 441 Ninth Ave (CommonWealth, Hudson Commons)](https://static.therealdeal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ft-hudsoncommons-250x179.jpg)
![American Copper Buildings at 626 First Avenue (SHoP Architect)](https://static.therealdeal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ft-Black-Spruce-snaps-up-American-Copper-Buildings-for-850M-250x179.jpg)
The building is 75 percent leased, according to the Observer. The deal was brokered by a CBRE team led by Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan.
The developers put the West Side tower up for sale amid a pandemic-driven dip in Manhattan’s office market. They were seeking at least $1 billion, Bloomberg reported in September. The 25-story building is one of the few LEED Platinum offices in the city.
CommonWealth Partners is a major name on the West Coast, but isn’t completely unknown in New York City, as the landlord also owns the 1.7 million-square-foot office tower at 787 Seventh Avenue near Rockefeller Center.
The Baupost Group has been on the selling end of several major deals in the past week alone.
Josh Gotlib’s Black Spruce Management recently agreed to buy the American Copper Buildings from the Baupost Group and Michael Stern’s JDS Development Group for $850 million. Once the deal closes, it will likely represent one of the biggest residential deals in the city since the pandemic began.
[CO] — Holden Walter-Warner