Real estate investment manager Clarion Partners, LLC just announced the acquisition of 100-104 Fifth Avenue for $230 million.
Clarion, which purchased the 277,412 s/f Midtown South building from the Kaufman Organization and Invesco Real Estate, has retained Kaufman Organization as the property’s exclusive leasing and managing agent. The sale was handled by Studley’s Capital Transaction Group.
100-104 Fifth Avenue is comprised of two contiguous buildings that were originally designed for a single tenant in 1906 and 1911. All floors are structurally aligned, facilitating a flexible response to tenant demand, with the potential to offer individual or combined floor plates in a loft-style plan.
The property is fully leased to tenants i representing a variety of industries, including technology, media, fashion, finance, advertising and real estate. The location, one block from Union Square, positions the property within four blocks of nearly every subway line in Manhattan and in close proximity to services, entertainment, housing, hotels and green space.
“100 Fifth Avenue is one of the top institutional-quality assets in the Midtown South submarket,” noted Gary Rufrano, a director at Clarion Partners. “The Class A vacancy rate in the area is just 3.2 percent and with limited potential for new competition, we are very pleased with this addition to our portfolio.”
The Kaufman Organization and Invesco purchased the building in late 2010 and implemented a capital improvement campaign to reposition the property by modernizing the lobby and the building systems, including the passenger elevators, security and HVAC. The Kaufman Organization was then responsible for attracting creative and new media companies to the property.
“After repositioning, rebranding and leasing the property, our partnership decided that this was the right time to sell 100 – 104 Fifth Avenue and that Studley was the right firm to market it. The Midtown South market is active and we believe that investors from across the country want to own here. This sale marks one of the largest deals in the neighborhood so far this year,” said Fred Leffel of Kaufman Organization.
“We’re happy to still lend our expertise to the building by staying on as the leasing and managing agent.”
Added Woody Heller of Studley, “The interest in Midtown South properties among institutional investors has grown exponentially over the last several years. This is entirely justified by the appeal of the area and spaces to many of the city’s fastest-growing tenants.”
