NEW YORK CITY — Kushner Cos. has purchased the 250,000-square-foot retail component of the historic Times Square Building for $296 million.
The retail portion of the 16-story, 767,000-square-foot property located at 229 W. 43rd St. comprises the first three floors and portions of the fourth floor, cellars and sub-cellars of the building, with frontage on West 43rd and 44th streets.
Sellers Africa-Israel USA (AFI-USA) and Five Mile Capital Partners purchased the entire building — the former headquarters of the New York Times Co. — in June 2007 for $530 million total.
The Times Square Building housed The New York Times when the property was built in 1913 until the building was sold in 2004 to Tishman Speyer Properties. In 2007, the newspaper moved to a steel-framed, glass-curtained new construction at 620 Eighth Ave.
Marquee tenants at the Times Square Building include Discovery Times Square Exhibition, Bowlmor Times Square, Guitar Center and Haru Sushi. Landmarks Preservation Commission recognizes the building as a New York City landmark.
Columbia Property Trust Inc. purchased the office portion of the building this year from affiliates of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI LP for $516 million.
Helen Hwang, formerly of Cushman & Wakefield and now with Meridian Investment Sales, represented AFI-USA in the sale of the retail portion, while Lon Rubackin and Gary Trock, CBRE senior vice presidents, represented Kushner Cos.
AFI-USA’s legal team was comprised of Doug Heitner, Sara Saylor and Tyler Vinal of Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman LLP.
Kushner Cos. oversees a portfolio consisting of more than 20,000 multifamily apartments and 12 million square feet of office, industrial and retail space in five states, and has completed more than $13 billion in real estate transactions since 2007.
AFI Group is an international holdings and investments group, focusing on projects of real estate, construction, infrastructure, industry and hotels. The majority of AFI-USA’s activity in North America focuses on luxury residential real estate in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami and Phoenix.
— Scott Reid