NY Fed Spends $208M on Downtown Office Building

February 29, 2012
By Nicholas Ziegler, News Editor

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is picking up a building in which it is the primary leaseholder, purchasing the property at 33 Maiden Lane in Downtown Manhattan for $207.5 million from Merit US Real Estate Fund III L.P.

William Dudley, president of the bank, called the purchase “a cost-effective way to meet our business needs” and said that the transaction “will enable us to more easily ensure appropriate security for our operations.” CBRE Group Inc. marked the property on behalf of the closed-end German fund, which is managed by Invesco Real Estate in cooperation with Hannover Leasing. Merit acquired the building in 2002.

The Fed occupies approximately 75 percent of the 559,659-square-foot, 27-story building and formed a new limited-liability firm, Maiden & Nassau L.L.C., to serve as the property’s owner. Approximately 1,100 employees work at the location, which the Fed has occupied since 1998.

“With its headquarters building located across the street, this was an excellent purchase by the Federal Reserve,” Darcy Stacom of the investment-sales team of CBRE said. “The great level of interest that the property received is a clear indication of increased capital flows into the Downtown market.”

According to a release by the bank, the decision to purchase the building was based on a comprehensive financial analysis that considered the bank’s long-term space needs and the potential fluctuations in the New York City downtown real estate market. The purchase decision was approved by the New York Fed’s board of directors as well as by the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System.

*This story was updated at 12:38 p.m. on Feb. 29, 2012. 33 Maiden Lane is located in Downtown, not Midtown, New York.