Blackstone Lands $850M for Manhattan Asset Stake

Blackstone has obtained a $850 million CMBS loan to acquire a 49 percent stake in Fisher Brothers’ 1345 Avenue of the Americas, a 1.9 million-square-foot office tower in Midtown Manhattan, according to Commercial Observer. Morgan Stanley, together with Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, formed the lending syndicate.

This minority ownership stake has changed hands a few times in the past 12 years. In 2013, National Burk Carriers sold a 49 percent interest in 605 Third Ave. and 1345 Avenue of the Americas to Rockpoint Group, The Real Deal reported. The deal valued the two assets at $2.1 billion.

A year later, in 2014, Rockpoint sold its stake to J.P. Morgan Asset Management, in a transaction that valued the same two buildings at $2.5 billion, according to the same source. The 49 percent stake will now go from JPMorgan to Blackstone.

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Designed by Emery Roth & Sons and completed in 1969, the Class A+ 50-story tower features floorplates ranging from 27,638 to 44,021 square feet. The office property underwent $120 million worth of renovations in 2021, targeting the lobby, outdoor plaza and park. The building also includes a new 20,000-square-foot amenity center featuring a conference center, fitness studio and tenant lounge, among others.

The tenant roster at the LEED Silver-certified high-rise includes law firms Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Ellenoff Grossman & Schole, as well as Canyon Partners, Virgo Business Centers, Global Infrastructure Partners and Intercontinental Exchange, according to CommercialEdge information.

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison signed its 20-year, 765,000-square-foot commitment at the property in 2023. The deal marked the largest New York City office lease of the year.

Manhattan’s office market leads for sales

In the first quarter of 2025, the Manhattan office market ranked first in the U.S. for sales, with an investment volume of more than $2 billion, according to a recent CommercialEdge office report. Properties traded at an average of $439 per square foot, more than double the national average of $183 per square foot.

And this momentum seems to be continuing into the second quarter, as several large deals have already closed or approached completion in the borough. In one of the more recent transactions, RXR agreed to pay $1.1 billion for the 1 million-square-foot tower at 590 Madison Ave. Blackstone was one of the interested buyers as well, alongside RFR, SL Green and Tishman Speyer.

The latter however had chosen another Manhattan building two weeks prior, a 13-story, 150,000-square-foot office property in Soho. This purchase marks Tishman Speyer’s first buy in the borough since 2019.