RXR has bought a 49 percent interest in 1211 Avenue of the Americas, a nearly 2 million-square-foot office tower in New York City. The share was acquired from Ivanhoé Cambridge, the global real estate group of CDPQ.
The 44-story Manhattan skyscraper previously changed hands in 2013, in a deal evaluating the property at $1.7 billion. At that point, Ivanhoé bought a 51 percent stake from Beacon Capital Partners for $850 million. Three years later, Beacon sold its remaining 49 percent to Ivanhoé and Callahan Capital for a slightly higher $895 million.
Ivanhoé Cambridge and RXR, now co-owners, will invest $300 million together to reposition 1211 Avenue of the Americas. The project will feature a revitalized plaza and a redesigned multitenant lobby. The plan includes a new amenity center, conference rooms, a wellness center and other updates.
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“There is a prolific impending shortage of high-quality office space in Manhattan,” Lindsay Ornstein, co-founder of OPEN Impact Real Estate, told Commercial Property Executive. “RXR/Ivanhoé Cambridge’s proposed modernization of 1211 Avenue of the Americas will create a welcome addition to the Class A+ marketplace.”
Fox and News Corp. signed lease extensions in 2023 to secure roughly 55 percent of the building through 2042. A law firm is departing in 2028, leaving more than 600,000 square feet of contiguous premium space in a “building within a building” in the Rockefeller Center/Midtown submarket, where the rate of unoccupied space is well below the average of Midtown Manhattan.
The tenant roster also includes the likes of Dow Jones and publications Wall Street Journal and Barron’s, as well as CDPQ and several law firms and financial services companies.
Strategic Capital Alliance and Newmark advised RXR on the transaction.
In October, in a somewhat similar move, RXR’s Office Recovery Fund partnered with Hudson Bay Capital to share ownership of and reposition a historic 500,000-square-foot office and retail building in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood: 620 Avenue of the Americas.