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Deals & Dealmakers

Commerz closes on $330M tower

Columbia Property Trust has completed the sale of 222 East 41st Street in Midtown to Commerz Real for $332.5 million.

The investment manager of German Commerzbank plans a long-term hold on the 390,000 s/f tower occupied by NYU Langone Medical Center.

The hospital leased the entire building from the Columbia following the departure of Jones Day to 4 Brookfield Place and just recently opened the first phase of a new multispecialty ambulatory care facility there as it sees growth in both inpatient and outpatient programs.

Last year, more than six million outpatient visits took place, according to Andrew W. Brotman, MD, chief clinical officer, and the hospital is set to open more than one million square feet of new clinical space to meet the demand.

On Monday, it opened a flagship campus on 1st Avenue.

The centerpiece of the massive makeover is the 21-story Helen L. and Martin S. Kimmel Pavilion, which contains Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital – New York City’s first new children’s hospital in nearly 15 years.

Columbia Property Trust launched a proactive campaign to sign NYU Langone to a 30-year leased 222 East 41st Street — a move that left the company with no vacancy at the tower and a smooth sale to Commerz..

“We were very pleased to secure an esteemed tenant on a long-term lease, which significantly increased the value of the property,” said Nelson Mills, president and chief executive officer of Columbia.

“Proceeds will further strengthen our balance sheet in the near term and will eventually be recycled into higher growth investment opportunities.”

Henning Koch, Global Head of Transactions at Commerz Real, said, “We plan to keep this premium property for the long term, simply because of the very good location and the excellent lease.

“This allows our investors to benefit the most from rising rental income and future value growth.”
Originally constructed in 2001, the 25-story office tower is three blocks from Grand Central Terminal, the world’s largest train station with 44 platforms, one of the city’s main public transport junctions and the terminus for the Metro North commuter trains.

CBRE’s Capital Markets team, including Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan, represented Columbia in the marketing and sale of the tower.

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