- LONDON: A syndicate of HSBC Private Bank’s rich property investor clients has bought a 49 percent stake in a plush New York office for about $255 million, and has scope to lift occupancy and rent, the bank said.
The syndicate has the right of first refusal on acquiring the remaining 51 percent of the 44-story office building at 1540 Broadway, Times Square, if it is put up for sale, said HSBC Alternative Investments Ltd (HAIL), a unit of HSBC Private Bank, on Wednesday.
A real estate fund controlled by property investment management company CB Richard Ellis Investors holds the remaining 51 percent stake of the building. Its investors include US pension funds, HAIL said.
Eighty-five percent of the building’s 907,000-square-foot floor space is let to 21 tenants, with average rents well below market levels, HAIL said, noting only 6 percent of the tenancy agreements would expire before 2017.
Strong active management could see the vacant floors at the top of the building let, said HAIL, noting asking rents in midtown Manhattan rose this year for the first time in two years.
CBRE Investors sold the 49 stake to create investment liquidity, HAIL said.