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Disney looks to sell UWS Armory as it consolidates HQ

Media company eyeing $30M for 120-year-old property

Disney Is Looking To Sell First Battery Armory at 56 West 66th Street
Disney CEO Bob Iger and 56 West 66th Street (Getty, Google Maps)

Dreams really do come true — especially if you’re a developer whose dream is to own a 120-year-old castle on the Upper West Side. 

The Walt Disney Company, which is consolidating offices into its new Hudson Square headquarters, is looking to sell the landmarked First Battery Armory building on the Upper West Side. The media company is looking to get around $30 million for the fortress-style property at 56 West 66th Street, sources told The Real Deal.

The building has been used as a television studio since 1973 and is currently home to offices for ESPN. It underwent a major renovation in 2010 and the interior is built out like a modern high-end office hidden beneath the revival architecture exterior.

“The iconic asset is ideal for users for continued use as an office and broadcasting space or conversion to residences, townhome, event hall, social club, art gallery, non-profit/educational use, diplomat/government building, restaurant and other creative uses,” read marketing materials for the property.

A spokesperson for Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

David Schechtman at Meridian Investment Sales and Will Silverman at Eastdil Secured are handling the listing. The brokers declined to comment. 

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The three-story, 43,000-story building can be delivered vacant. 

Disney is consolidating offices across the city to its new, 1.3 million-square-foot building at 4 Hudson Square, which is nearing completion. The company is reportedly moving ESPN’s Seaport studio there by 2025.

The Armory building was part of the massive ABC campus on the Upper West Side, which Disney acquired when it bought the broadcasting company in 1996. 

When Disney later purchased 21st Century Fox in 2019, the company had a lot of redundant real estate spread across Manhattan. It decided to move forward with a new headquarters in Hudson Square and started selling off pieces of ABC’s Upper West Side campus, dealing a large piece to Silverstein Properties for $1.2 billion.

The Armory building sits next to a development site owned by Gary Barnett’s Extell Development, which purchased the property last year from Silverstein for $931 million. 

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