Chris Balestra, chief investment officer of Taconic Investment Partners

NEW YORK CITY—Taconic Investment Partners and National Real Estate Advisors have acquired 311 West 4nd St. in Midtown West from 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East via a 99-year ground lease.

The new ownership plans to demolish the existing building located between Eight and Ninth avenues and construct a new nearly 350,000-square-foot mixed-use property in its place. The redevelopment project, including acquisition, is estimated at approximately $250 million. Demolition of the building is expected to begin in 2020.

The new building will feature rental apartments and retail at its base. The project will include an affordable rental housing component. Taconic and National officials state they worked closely with 1199SEIU “to form a structure that vested the long-term ownership of the property with future generations of 1199SEIU members.”

In 2017, the 199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East and the 1199SEIU Benefit Fund for Health and Human Service Employees announced they would consolidate operations into one building with the signing of a lease totaling approximately 580,000 square feet at George Comfort & Son's 498 Seventh Ave. office building. In a ceremony held earlier this month, the deal earned the Henry Hart Rice Achievement Award from REBNY.

“The space at 311 West 42nd has served the union well since the 1960s, but unfortunately, the size and age of the building are making it increasingly difficult to accommodate the needs of a growing, 21st century union. We will remain in the space until 2020, when we relocate to our new headquarters,” says George Gresham, president of 1199SEIU. He adds that the deal, which allows the union to maintain ownership of the property, will serve as a “tremendous investment in the futures of the healthcare workers and the healthcare industry as a whole.”

Jonathan Serko, Adam Spies, Kevin Donner, Richard Serko and Ed Donnery of Cushman & Wakefield represented 1199 SEIU in the deal.

“This is a great opportunity for Taconic, in partnership with National, to expand our footprint in the Hell's Kitchen and Midtown West neighborhoods even further,” says Chris Balestra, chief investment officer of Taconic. “We feel the site presents an ideal opportunity to create a prominent rental development with a retail component in this prime and bustling neighborhood.”

Jeffrey Kanne, president and CEO of National, Realty Advisors, said, “311 West 42nd Street fits squarely within National's build-to-core investment strategy to develop vanguard assets in the country's leading real estate markets.”

Taconic recently completed a nearby rental building at 525 W. 52nd Street and opened the New York Stem Cell Foundation's 40,000-square-foot Research Institute in a commercial building at 619 West 54th St. National Real Estate has investments in such area properties as New York by Gehry and 375 Pearl St. in lower Manhattan, as well as the multi-phase Journal Squared project located on the Jersey City PATH station.

Instant Insights /

Taconic-National RE Advisors Announce $250M Project

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