GFP Buys Historic Manhattan Office Asset for $89M

675 Avenue of the Americas. Image courtesy of GFP Real Estate

GFP Real Estate has acquired 675 Avenue of the Americas. Chelsea Green Associates sold the 311,000-square-foot, Class A office property in Manhattan’s Chelsea submarket for $89 million, according to Yardi Matrix. The deal also calls for technology company Guidepoint to take a minority stake in the asset and lease 50,000 square feet for its headquarters. 

The building, which occupies the full block between West 21st and West 22nd streets, was constructed in 1901 for the Adams Dry Goods department store. Historic design features include 50,000 square-foot open floorplates, high exposed ceilings and oversized operable windows. Modern features include a tenant rooftop space, high-speed elevators and a new HVAC system.

Office tenants include Weight Watchers, which has its headquarters in the building, and Nielsen Holdings, which signed a 16-year lease for 42,529 square feet in May 2016. Guidepoint, a technology platform company that connects clients with vetted advisors and experts from its global professional network, signed a 13-year lease in addition to taking a minority ownership stake in the property. It will be moving its headquarters from 730 Third Ave. Retail tenants include Trader Joe’s, Michaels Stores and Harmon Stores. 

GFP, which expects 675 Avenue of the Americas to be a long-term hold for the firm, said the historic building is well-positioned to be a market leader due to its abundant natural light, premier location and expansive floor plates. The firm has been very active in the last four years, making 10 acquisitions comprising more than 2.7 million square feet and $1.3 billion. The projects have expanded the Gural family’s core portfolio of Manhattan office properties. One of New York City’s premier real estate owners and operators, GFP’s combined portfolio of owned and managed properties totals 72 buildings and about 16 million square feet. The firm owns some of New York City’s most iconic assets including the Flatiron Building at 175 Fifth Ave. the Film Center Building at 630 Ninth Ave. 515 Madison Ave., 1560 Broadway and 40 Worth St.

The transaction was led by GFP’s Chairman Jeffrey Gural, Co-CEOs Eric Gural and Brian Steinwurtzel and Tom Ortinau, GFP head of acquisitions. Newmark Knight Frank arranged the acquisition financing, provided by Signature Bank. The NKF team was led by Dustin Stolly and Jordan Roeschlaub, vice chairman & co-heads of debt and structured finance, along with Managing Directors Nick Scribani and Chris Kramer and Senior Managing Director Paul Talbot. GFP received a $55.2 million mortgage from Signature Bank, according to the Commercial Observer.

Recent leasing deals

GFP has also signed some large new leases in recent months. In February, Purple USA signed a seven-year lease for 9,800-square-feet at 322 Eighth Ave., a 21-story office building in Chelsea. The lifestyle communications and public relations firm will occupy the entire 13th floor at the 175,000-square building that also has about 10,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor. Other tenants include Juice Pharma Worldwide, Sam Schwartz Engineering, Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects and YWL Foundation.

In January, NYC Health + Hospitals, the country’s largest public health care system, leased 525,552 square feet of office space at 50 Water St. in the Financial District. The health care agency, which signed a 25-year lease, will occupy 14 floors of the 29-story building co-owned by GFP and Northwind Group.