Dursts Look To Sell 675 Third Avenue

Another New York real estate dynasty is willing to part ways with one of its once-prized office buildings.

The Durst Organization is putting up for sale the 32-story building at 675 Third Avenue, one of five buildings the Dursts developed along Third Avenue in the 1950s and 1960s.

The company is looking to get north of $100 million for the building, which was finished in 1966 and is now about two-thirds occupied. The 340,000-square-foot building is being pitched as a candidate for a residential conversion.

“One block from Grand Central, 675 Third Avenue is prime for a developer with experience in residential conversions to acquire and create new housing in one of the most central locations in New York City,” a spokesperson for Durst told The Real Deal.

The company has invested more than $30 million worth of capital improvements into the building, according to a marketing memo from Newmark. A team led by Adam Spies and Adam Doneger is handling the sale process.

While the Dursts wouldn’t provide any more detail on the reason for putting the property up for sale, other families that traditionally never sold their buildings have been doing so recently, choosing to sell rather than pump additional capital into struggling offices.

The Rudins, for example, recently sold 80 Pine Street in the Financial District to Bushburg Properties, which is planning a residential conversion. The Rudins developed the building in 1960.

The Kaufmans also recently sold their building at 77 Water Street through their Sage Realty management arm to Vanbarton Group, which is planning a conversion. And the family just struck a deal to sell 767 Third Avenue (which sits five blocks north of the Durst’s building) to London-based Quantum Pacific for $88 million, Commercial Observer reported.

It isn’t clear what Quantum is planning for the property, but Third Avenue has been seen as an area ripe for residential conversions as the stretch along the East Side has struggled with high vacancy rates.

SL Green last year announced a plan to convert its 25-story, 800,000-square-foot tower at 750 Third Avenue into 543 apartments.