Gamsahabnida, Hyundai.
The Vanbarton Group parted ways with its newly redeveloped boutique office building in Tribeca, selling it to the South Korean automaker.
Vanbarton sold the eight-story property at 15 Laight Street to Hyundai Motor Group for $275 million in cash, Bloomberg reported. Hyundai is expected to use the 108,000-square-foot property for a showroom and offices.
Newmark brokered the transaction. None of the involved parties commented to the publication.
Vanbarton recently redeveloped the property, formerly home to the Tribeca Film Festival.
Given the state of the office sector, the outcome was probably acceptable for Vanbarton if not what it had in mind when it bought the property in 2016 for $90 million and borrowed $141 million from Paramount Group two years later to redevelop it.
A member of the team that secured the financing for Vanbarton noted at the time that it could lead to a tenant occupying the entire building.
The building now includes outdoor terraces on each of its eight floors, from which the new owners can see its vehicles and others inching down Canal Street toward the Holland Tunnel or spilling out of the conduit.
The property was once home to Tribeca Cinemas, a movie theater Robert De Niro opened during the film festival’s early days. VE Equities and WhiteStar Advisors bought the theater out of its lease for $2.8 million before selling the building to Vanbarton.
Vanbarton has been focused on NoMad, eyeing a life science project at the vacant site next to the Marble Collegiate Church at West 29th Street and Fifth Avenue. Prior to that, the firm was looking to build an office project there.
Two years ago, Hyundai pledged to invest billions of dollars in the United States by 2025. Previously, in 2017, the company signed a 40,000-square-foot retail lease in the Meatpacking District.
— Holden Walter-Warner
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