New York’s investment sales market in 2021 has turned out to be a bright spot – if you look beyond the bottom line.

The top 10 deals of the year totaled $ 4.57 billion, which is actually lower than the total of $ 5.53 billion in 2020.

Last year’s total, however, included several significant deals that actually started in 2019, before Covid, such as Amazon’s $ 978 million purchase of the Lord & Taylor building and the $ 900 million acquisition. of dollars by German insurer Munich RE from the office tower at 330 Madison Avenue.

The types of properties that were popular during the 2021 recovery include large office buildings and apartments. Others, such as retail and development sites (which are covered in another list by The Real Deal) were in disgrace.

Here are the top 10 investment sales of the year:

1. 441 Ninth Avenue | $ 1 billion
Buyer: CommonWealth Partners
Vendor: Cove Property Group and Baupost Group
Brokerage: CBRE

Thirty months. Three-zero.

This is how long it has been since New York City saw a real estate transaction cross the billion dollar mark. Kevin Hoo’s Cove Property Group and his partner, Boston-based hedge fund Baupost Group, broke that streak in December when they closed the $ 1.033 billion sale of their Hudson Commons office tower to CommonWealth Partners, an adviser to the California Public, based in Los Angeles. Employee pension plan fund.

This is the largest investment sale since June 2019, when related companies bought the WarnerMedia office condos at 30 Hudson Yards for $ 2.2 billion.

Hoo and his partners purchased the Hudson Yards area property in 2006 and added 17 floors of office space, leasing the building to tenants like Peloton and Lyft.

2. 51 West 52nd Street | $ 760 million
Buyer: Harbor Group International
Seller: ViacomCBS
Brokerage: CBRE

CBS’s famous Black Rock building appears to be one of the earliest victims of the viral panic.

Shortly after Viacom merged with CBS in late 2019, the company decided to divest itself of the 38-story tower designed by Eero Saarinen. He put the building up for sale in 2020, aiming to raise more than $ 1 billion, but suspended the effort in March as Covid took over the city.

The property has returned to the market and sold to Harbor Group, which plans to make significant improvements.

3. 125 West End Avenue | $ 450 million
Buyer: LaSalle Investment Management
Vendor: Taconic Partners and Nuveen Real Estate
Brokerage: CBRE

Taconic Partners and Nuveen Real Estate have called on LaSalle Investment Management as a partner in their Upper West Side life sciences hub.

Taconic and Nuveen bought the 400,000-square-foot property – a former Chrysler facility on Automobile Row in Manhattan – in 2018 from Walt Disney, which was selling over $ 1 billion in real estate as part of its 21st acquisition. Century Fox.

ABC vacated the property in January and the developers started construction a month later to reposition the property for life science tenants. At the same time that LaSalle joined us in injecting equity capital into the project, the owners secured close to $ 400 million in construction financing.

4. 265-275, rue Cerise | $ 435 million
Buyer: related companies
Seller: Groupe CIM and L + M Development Partners
Brokerage: Cushman & Wakefield

Related went back to its roots with this purchase of two large buildings in Section 8 on the Lower East Side.

The company founded by Stephen Ross got its start in the 1970s buying and rehabilitating affordable housing. With tenants fleeing market-priced apartments during the city’s foreclosure, demand has increased for affordable housing, which generally offers more stable incomes.

The buildings at 265-275 Cherry Street, known as Lands End II, hold approximately 500 combined units and their rents are guaranteed by the reliable federal voucher program based on Section 8 projects.

5. 1177 Sixth Avenue | $ 417 million
Buyer: CalSTRS
Seller: Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
Brokerage: CBRE

UBS Realty Investors sold its roughly 50 percent stake in 1177 Sixth Avenue in a deal that valued the 47-story tower at $ 860 million.

The buyer was the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, which already owned the other half of the property and now owns it in partnership with Silverstein Properties.

CalSTRS and Silverstein bought the tower for around $ 1 billion in 2007. They got the deal going when they exercised an option to buy UBS earlier this year for $ 825 million. The option, however, gave UBS the right to match the CalSTRS / Silverstein price and buy out its partners.

The valuation represented a capitalization rate of approximately 4.5%. This is roughly where prices for similar properties were coming in before the pandemic, and was seen as a data point that calmed investors’ nerves as the shift to working from home rocked the market.

6. An avenue in the park | $ 393.8 million
Buyer: Vornado Realty Trust
Seller: Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
Brokerage: CBRE

Vornado Realty Trust purchased its partner’s interest in this Midtown building, becoming the sole owner.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board sold its 45 percent stake to Vornado in a deal that valued the 943,000 square foot building at $ 875 million.

Vornado paid $ 158 million in cash and assumed the pension fund’s share of the $ 525 million in debt on the property.

Tenants of One Park Avenue include Robert AM Stern Architects, Equinox, and NYU Langone Medical Center. In February, the building was 98% leased to 22 tenants.

7. 635-641 Sixth Avenue | $ 325 million
Buyer: Spear Street Capital
Seller: SL Green Realty
Brokerage: CBRE

SL Green continued to sell with the loss of this Chelsea retail and office building.

The REIT completed the redevelopment of the 267,000 square foot building in 2015, upgrading the lobby, elevators and a rooftop penthouse. The property is 94% leased to software company Infor until 2030.

SL Green bought the property in 2012 for $ 173 million.

8. 524 Broadway | $ 323.5 million
Buyer: Northwood Investors
Seller: Heller Properties
Brokerage: Cushman & Wakefield

Soho was hit hard when stores closed and then looters ransacked stores while police were distracted by racial justice protests.

Northwood’s agreement to buy a pair of apartment buildings on the high-profile corner of Broadway and Spring Street was seen as a boost to the neighborhood.

The buildings include 180,000 square feet of office space and 60,000 square feet of retail. Tenants include Keith McNally’s famous Balthazar restaurant, WeWork and Aritzia fashion boutique.

9. 116 John Street | $ 247.5 million
Buyer: Silverstein Properties
Seller: Metro Loft Management

Larry Silverstein bought this FiDi apartment tower at Metro Loft Management from Nathan Berman for $ 248 million.

Built in the 1930s, 116 John Street was originally an office tower. In 2011, Berman formed a joint venture with owner Hacienda Intercontinental Realty to convert the 35-story building – one of the few remaining office towers on John Street – into apartments.

Much of the space is leased to Sonder, which rents the units as apartment-style hotel rooms.

Elsewhere in FiDi, Silverstein is partnering with Brookfield to develop one of the last developable plots on the World Trade Center site into a 1.6 million square foot mixed-use tower with 1,325 residential units.

10. 111 Wall Street | $ 220 million
Buyer: Nightingale Properties and Wafra Capital Partners
Seller: Omnispective Management
Brokerage: Newmark

Nightingale and Wafra took full ownership of the Financial District office building with their $ 220 million purchase of the land below in June.

Simon Singer’s Elie Schwartz and Nightingale had earlier teamed up with their frequent partner Wafra, a branch of the Kuwait Social Security fund, to purchase the lease on the 1.2 million square foot building in early 2020.

They took full control with the purchase of the fee position and secured a $ 500 million loan to reposition the property. The owners are planning a redesign that includes a new curtain wall and a renovated lobby.

Contact Rich Bockmann