Savanna Sells 2 Office Buildings In 2 Weeks For $163M
Savanna Real Estate Fund has shed one of its Manhattan properties, selling a SoHo office and retail building for $98.2M.
Tokyo Trust Capital was the buyer of the 65K SF building at 434 Broadway, according to records filed with the city Thursday.
The 52K SF 434 Broadway has both retail and office space, and features tenants like clothing store Champion, venture capital fund General Catalyst Partners and developer RAL Cos. The sale marks a more than $30M profit for Savanna, which paid $62M for it back in 2013, according to city property records.
The building appears to be Tokyo Trust Capital’s second major U.S. real estate purchase in the last few months. In November, CIM Group announced it had sold its creative office building known as One Tehama in San Francisco's South Financial District. It declined to specify the buyer, but the same LLC — Bell Sound USA — was used in the 434 Broadway purchase.
Savanna closed the sale of the Bruckner Building, along with partner Hornig Capital Partners, in the Bronx for $64.8M to ZG Capital Partners, according to city property records filed Jan. 9.
ZG Capital Partners, the entity run by Bobby Zar and James Tamborlane, acquired the loft office Bruckner Building in a deal brokered by JLL Capital Markets, led by Chairman of Investment Sales Bob Knakal. Savanna and Hornig renovated the 188K SF building in 2016.
While Savanna sold two properties in less than two weeks, it has been a more frequent buyer over the last two years. In April, it reached a deal to pay $110M to Japan’s Unizo Holdings for an office building at 24-28 West 25th St., and reportedly signed a contract to acquire 360 Lexington Ave. for around $180M. The company’s purchase of 5 Bryant Park from Blackstone for $640M was one of the biggest investment sale deals of 2018.
Foreign buyers spent some $14.7B on American real estate assets in the first half of 2019, compared to $19.8B during the same time period the year before, according to CBRE. Japan has been seen as a strong potential investor, though some investors from that country have not fared so well.
Unizo, for example, is withdrawing from New York City, with mixed results. It took a $12M loss on the office building at 321 West 44th St. when it sold it to Related's fund management arm for $152.5M. The firm made a $59M profit on 440 Ninth Ave., however, selling it to Taconic and TH Real Estate last year, according to Commercial Observer.
