By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor<\/i><\/p>\n
RXR Realty and an affiliate of Walton Street Capital, L.L.C., have acquired 237 Park Avenue, a 21-story office building, from an entity controlled by an affiliate of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.<\/p>\n
The price of the sale was not disclosed, but the two parties have been working on the sale since February.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been working over the last couple of months with a team of architects, engineers and other professionals to help us bring our vision for the property to life,\u201d Scott Rechler, RXR\u2019s chairman & CEO, said in a company release. \u201cWe are very happy with our plans for what will be a truly transformative re-development of this superior Park Avenue building.\u201d<\/p>\n
Located between 45th and 46th Streets, in the heart of the Grand Central District, the Class A office building includes 1.2 million square feet.<\/p>\n
According to a company spokesperson, the sale of 237 Park Ave. by Lehman was made possible by several years of restructuring debt secured by the property followed by a mezzanine foreclosure. Lehman was able to capitalize on strong current demand for commercial real estate in New York City and deliver significant value to its creditors.<\/p>\n
Improvements to the building will include a $40 million, complete renovation to the lobby and 21-story atrium, as well as to DePew Place. Dan Shannon of the architectural firm of Moed de Armas and Shannon will spearhead the project.<\/p>\n
Additionally, RXR and Walton Street will modernize the fa\u00e7ade of the Lexington Avenue and 45th\/46th street retail space, encompassing more than 30,000 square feet, by installing a full-height glass curtain wall.\u00a0They also plan to replace the fa\u00e7ade and create unique outdoor areas on several of the top floors of the building over the next few years.<\/p>\n
According to Rechler, the planned modernization should attract higher-end retailers and also allow for larger users to have a two-floor presence with spectacular identity.<\/p>\n
Jones Lang LaSalle will serve as leasing agent for the office space and Newmark Grubb Knight Frank to lease the retail space available at the property.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the ability to provide prospective tenants with contiguous blocks of up to 200,000 square feet of the highest quality office space, we hope to attract high-end technology, financial and service companies that recognize the value and benefit of this Park Avenue quality building located steps from Grand Central,\u201d said William Elder, RXR\u2019s executive vice president and managing director for New York City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RXR Realty and an affiliate of Walton Street Capital, have acquired 237 Park Ave., a 21-story office building, from an entity controlled by an affiliate of Lehman Brothers Holdings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":451,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21783,11,1600,21742,10,21747],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1004085973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-investment","category-midatlantic","category-new-york","category-latest","category-northeast","category-office"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n