Innovo Property Group Buying HSBC Tower For $855M
The owner of the 30-story HSBC Tower in Midtown Manhattan is selling the Manhattan property, taking a loss on the deal to unload the office building.
Andrew Chung’s Innovo Property Group is buying the 30-story tower at 452 Fifth Ave. from Israeli based Property and Building Corp., the seller announced Sunday, according to Reuters. PBC is selling the property for $855M, recording a net loss on its books of $45M.
"We are continuing the policy and examining the possibility of realising additional properties in the United States and in Israel," Doron Cohen, the CEO of PBC and its majority owner, Discount Investment Corp., said in a statement.
Innovo is now seeking financing to close on the purchase, which is set to close in the second quarter of next year, Commercial Observer reports.
Cohen suggested the Tivoli Village apartment building in Las Vegas could be sold, too, as part of the Tel Aviv-based company’s plan to sell off real estate to lower its debt and up its liquidity.
PBC partnered with Koor Industries to pay $353M for the 865K SF property in 2009. Two years later, it bought out Koor’s share. The building is home to HSBC's American headquarters.
The sale could be a boost for the city’s tepid investment sales market. Sales volume increased slightly in the third quarter of the year, but multifamily trades are the driver of the market, and there have been few big-ticket sales. There have been questions over the value and future of office buildings in the city, too, as companies reassess their workplace arrangements.
Still, major office sales do appear to be returning to the market. Google has said it will buy its campus on the West Side for $2.1B in a deal that will close in the first quarter of next year.
On Monday, SL Green announced it has sold a 25% stake in One Madison Avenue to an international investor who has committed aggregate equity to the office development of no less than $259.3M. It also sold two Manhattan multifamily properties it owns for nearly $160M combined.
