CBRE Lands 499 Park Leasing Job

NEW YORK CITY-A CBRE team led by vice chairman Paul Amrich will handle leasing at 499 Park Ave. for the boutique office tower's new ownership, American Realty Advisors. The Plaza District property, which changed hands last week, was formerly owned by Hines US Core Office Fund.

Calling 499 Park “a truly iconic property,” Amrich says in a release that 499 Park's “prime location on the upper end of Park Avenue melds with the impeccable architecture to create a combination that cannot be replicated. He notes that the 303,000-square-foot office tower marks American Realty Advisors' first Midtown acquisition on behalf of its clients, “and we look forward to assisting them in continuing to keep this top trophy asset at the forefront of New York's tenant and brokerage community.”

Amrich will handle leasing at the 28-story 499 Park with CBRE colleagues who include senior associate Neil V. King III, first VP Patrice Meagher and SVP James Ackerson. Another CBRE team, vice chairmen Darcy Stacom and William Shanahan, had marketed 499 for sale in tandem with Eastdil Secured.

499 Park's current tenant roster includes Bloomberg, Cantor Fitzgerald, M. Safra & Co. and Hines. Designed by I.M. Pei & Partners, it was completed in 1980 and is currently 91.8% leased.

In a release, Kirk Helgeson, EVP and executive managing director with Glendale, CA-based American Realty Advisors, says the 499 Park purchase is a key component of his company's core strategy “to bring our investors high-quality and uniquely-positioned assets with strong demand growth potential over the long-term. We expect that the property's prime location, timeless architecture, transit accessibility and walkable world-class amenities will continue to attract top-tier tenants and to identify 499 Park Ave. as their Midtown address of choice.”

Terms of the acquisition, which closed last week, were not divulged. However, Hines said that 499 Park and 375 Lexington Ave. traded for a combined sales price of more than $1 billion, and the 750,000-square-foot 425 Lexington is rumored to have sold for $700 million.