SL Green to Buy Manhattan High-Rise for $445M

450 Park Ave.

SL Green Realty Corp. has entered an agreement to buy a luxury office tower in Manhattan’s Plaza District, in what would be the borough’s largest transaction so far this year. Citing Midtown’s resurging demand for high-quality space, Manhattan’s largest office landlord will pay $445 million to Oxford Properties for 450 Park Ave.

The deal—expected to close in the second quarter—marks the REIT’s first office purchase since 2018. CBRE’s Darcy Stacom, William Shanahan and Doug Middleton advised the seller.

READ ALSO: Top 5 NYC Building Sales—February 2022

Oxford Properties purchased the 33-story asset in 2014 for $545.8 million, CommercialEdge data shows. The Class A building offers 337,000 square feet of office and retail space and underwent cosmetic renovations in 2003 and 2006. It boasts both Energy Star and LEED Platinum certifications.

SL Green plans to invest in upgrades to the property’s amenity package with new programs and services. The 32,000-square-foot retail component will house the first Manhattan showroom for UK luxury car manufacturer Aston Martin. Other tenants include Banco Bradesco, BDT Capital Partners and Oxford Properties.

Manhattan prices dropped, but still on top

Manhattan was among the few metros that exceeded $1 billion in office sales during the first quarter, according to CommercialEdge data—along with Seattle, Dallas, New Jersey, Houston and the San Francisco Bay Area. On average, office properties in Manhattan sold for $921 per square foot as of March. The figure marked a significant decline from the previous month, but still exceeded all other metros tracked by CommercialEdge.

Although it made no new office purchases since it acquired a stake in Hudson Yards in 2018, SL Green generated $98.2 million in net cash proceeds from property sales, according to the company’s first-quarter earnings report. Additionally, it signed 820,989 square feet of office space across its Manhattan properties during this time, including renewals, with an average term of 9.8 years.

One of SL Green’s tenants at 711 Third Ave. subleased 71,239 square feet earlier this month. Global recruitment agency Phaidon International will move into the new space, which will enable it to grow its workforce to 500 employees in New York City. According to its earnings report, SL Green aims to increase occupancy at its Manhattan properties to 94.3 percent by December this year. As of March, its portfolio was at 92.7 percent occupancy.