NEW YORK CITY—The Blackstone Group is preparing to sell 1095 Ave. of the Americas, a source with knowledge of the matter confirms. Bloomberg reported on Thursday that the private equity giant had tapped Eastdil Secured to market the 42-story office tower and is seeking as much as $2.25 billion.
Home to MetLife's administrative offices and scheduled to be the headquarters of Verizon Communications starting next month, the 1.2-million-square-foot tower near Bryant Park was acquired in 2007 as part of Blackstone's takeover of Equity Office Properties. It's one of three remaining Midtown properties from the EOP portfolio; the others are 1140 Ave. of the Americas and 120 W. 42nd St.
Since acquiring 1095 Sixth Ave., also known as 3 Bryant Park, Blackstone has completed a $300-million renovation on the property. Ben Thypin, director of market analysis at Real Capital Analytics, told Bloomberg on Thursday that a 1095 Sixth sale for more than $2 billion would demonstrate the market's strength relative to the previous peak.
“If they were to hit this number, it would show the market is still extremely strong for these assets,” Thypin told Bloomberg. “If you want to buy an office building of this size, you only have so many choices.” A spokeswoman for Blackstone declined to comment on the Bloomberg report.
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