Park Ave. Tower Bought by Blackstone

NEW YORK CITY—The Park Avenue Tower at 65 E. 55th St. is under contract for $750 million, according to the New York Post. Sources familiar with the transaction confirm the Post report identifying the Blackstone Group as the buyer.

The hefty price translates to $1,280 per square foot for the building's 585,563 square feet — or $1,210 per square foot once Blackstone uses the newly re-measured 619,631 feet.

The private equity firm previously owned the Midtown building briefly in 2007 after it took over Equity Office Properties. But it quickly flipped the property and six other Midtown office buildings for $7.2 billion to Harry Macklowe, who handed over the keys to lender Deutsche Bank a year later.

The seller, Shorenstein Co., took control of the office building in 2008 for $625 million as part of a two-building deal. Shorenstein hired senior managing directors Douglas Harmon and Adam Spies and managing director Kevin Donner, all of Eastdil Secured, to sell the building last year. Harmon declined to comment when contacted by GlobeSt.com, as did spokesmen for Blackstone and Shorenstein.

The building is “hitting a sweet spot for Blackstone, which prefers buying partial vacancy so it can bump up the cash flow,” the Post reports. Two major tenants are getting ready to depart the building: law firm Paul Hastings—which has 253,000 square feet across 16 floors—and hedge fund manager Davidson Kempner, which holds 50,000 square feet

The former's lease is up in 2016, and it is expected to shrink down to 160,000 square feet at 200 Park Ave., the Met Life Building. The firm is represented by CBRE in its leasing.

The latter tenant is expanding to 70,233 square feet over two floors at 520 Madison Ave. That asset is owned by Tishman Speyer.