Barings takes title to RXR’s 340 Madison in Grand Central by foreclosure

Lender Barings through the entity 340 Madison Owner LLC acquired title through a federal judicial foreclosure from RXR Realty and Ontario Pension Board for the office building (O4) 340 Madison Avenue in Grand Central, Manhattan. The expected use is cash flowing. The transfer price was a $161.3 million credit bid made by Barings.

The deal closed on March 13, 2025 and was recorded on March 14, 2025. The property has 558,735 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $288 per the PincusCo analysis. (The price per square foot analysis is the transaction price divided by square feet as reported in public records and assumes no air rights have been sold.)
The former owners bought the property on July 29, 2011, for $246.7 million. The signatory representing the court turning over the asset from RXR Realty and Ontario Pension Board to the lender was the receiver, attorney Fred Stevens. The signatory for Barings was John J. Phillips. The contract date was March 13, 2025.

This was a Southern District foreclosure case, index number 1:24-cv-03865, which PincusCo reported on at the time. The prior debt was $315 million. The auction was held on March 13, 2025. According to the report of the auction in the federal case, “Leading up to the Auction Sale, the Receiver was contacted by at least three prospective bidders. Each prospective bidder was provided with any available information regarding the Auction Sale, the proposed terms and conditions of the Auction Sale, and information regarding how and where to submit competitive bidders. Ultimately, however, the only qualified bidder to attend the Auction Sale was the Lender…. At the commencement of the Auction Sale, the Lender submitted its opening credit bid of $161,274,400.00, after which the Auctioneer asked if there were any other bids. Hearing no other bids, the hammer fell and the Lender was declared the winning bidder. ”

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Barings purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $161 million and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $116 million over the past 24 months.
The 558,735-square-foot property generated revenue of $57.4 million or $103 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The office building in Grand Central has 558,735 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 200 feet and is 179 feet deep with a total lot size of 32,536 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C5-3 which allows for up to 15 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $328 million.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was involved in one lawsuit and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The suit was a $315 million commercial foreclosure concerning a loan filed on May 17, 2024, by MassMutual against RXR Realty and Ontario Pension Board. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $3,240 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on September 5, 2012. There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Grand Central, The majority, or 83 percent of the 44.4 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space. In sales, Grand Central has 3.8 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $1 billion in sales volume in the last two years and is the 9th highest in Manhattan. For development, Grand Central is the 6th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 6.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 14 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There were four pre-foreclosure suit filed among other office buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the nine commercial properties representing 1,554,921 square feet of the 2,259,037 square feet. The largest owner is Milstein Properties, followed by Savanna and then Empire Capital Holdings.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 94 percent of the 2.3 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 3 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Rxr Realty owned at least 22 commercial properties with 1,000 residential units in New York City with 9,625,887 square feet and a city-determined market value of $3.1 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 89 percent of the 9,625,887 square feet of built space are office properties, with D3 properties next occupying 4 percent of the space. The bulk, or 83 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 14 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Barings owned at least two commercial properties in New York City with 414,325 square feet and a city-determined market value of $139.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 75 percent of the 414,325 square feet of built space are office properties, with hotel properties next occupying 25 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

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