Charles Cohen’s 750 Lexington Auctioned Off

750 Lexington Avenue has officially left the Cohen Brothers orbit.

The troubled office tower hit the auction block on Wednesday in Lower Manhattan, but failed to garner any bids. The upset price, or minimum bid, was set at $161,854,848.66, but the property returned to the lender.

The auction did garner questions from one potential bidder, who brought legal counsel, about whether the plaintiff would consider lowering the minimum bid. But that would-be buyer declined to identify himself.

The auction marks not only a change in ownership for the office building, but a new low point for billionaire Charles Cohen, who heads Cohen Brothers. Cohen has lost control of several properties in his fights with lenders. But 750 Lex was a legacy property for the company, developed in the 1980s by Cohen’s father and home to the company’s own offices.

The foreclosure and auction are the result of a $130 million refinancing loan on the property that Cohen personally sponsored in 2015. At the time, 750 Lex was valued at $300 million, according to Morningstar Credit. Now, the most recent appraisal put it at just $41 million — marking an 85 percent haircut.

The building, also called 1 International Plaza, is 30 stories and sits at the corner of East 59th Street and Lexington Avenue, where Midtown meets the Upper East Side.

The financial freefall at the building began in 2022, when occupancy began to slip and Cohen fell behind on payments. Major retail tenant Zara left its space and months later beleaguered coworking company WeWork stopped paying its rent, according to information provided to Morningstar.

Net operating income in 2023 was a quarter of what it was when the loan was underwritten. Occupancy, once full, fell to 69 percent.

Cohen worked out a lease amendment with WeWork after the company declared bankruptcy, shortening the term and tying rent to revenue from the space. But it wasn’t enough to save the building.

Special servicer LNR Partners filed a foreclosure case in 2024 and won a summary judgment this past summer.

As of June, occupancy had ticked back up to 73 percent, according to Morningstar Credit. But net operating income, which does not include debt service, was just 1.8 million, just 14 percent of what it was in 2015.

Elsewhere, Cohen continues to battle with Fortress Credit. The billionaire owes a $187 million personal debt to the lender after defaults on a $534 million loan portfolio he had guaranteed. He has so far sold two buildings — 3 East 54th Street and 623 Fifth Avenue — to Vornado Realty Trust and used $52 million of the proceeds to pay Fortress. The lender has asked the court for a receiver to sell off Cohen’s assets, saying the developer “cannot be trusted” to do so himself.

In response, Cohen apparently told the court he was working out a refinancing deal with a realty trust, according to court documents from Fortress. A judge has asked Cohen to present concrete evidence of that process.