Charity sells 50% of fee under 555 Fifth Avenue for $50M to affiliated entity

The heirs of the late real estate investor Milton Kimmelman through the entity 555 Fifth Avenue Associates L.P. acquired a 50 percent interest from the Washington, D.C.-based Trellis Charitable Fund valued at $50 million for the ground-leased fee under the office building (O6) at 555 Fifth Avenue in Midtown, Manhattan.
The deal closed on October 21, 2021 and was recorded on November 1, 2021.
The property has 206,378 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $242 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 ground lessee is an affiliate of ATCO Properties.

This transfer represents a 50% stake in the fee owned by the family of the late real estate investor Milton Kimmelman, under the midtown office building 555 Fifth Avenue, which was transferred out of a charity, The Trellis Charitable Fund, and into another entity. Both the Trellis fund and the new entity are at the same Washington, D.C., address of the fund, which is controlled by Betsy Karel, daughter of Milton Kimmelman, who bought the fee.

The property was brought into the family by Milton Kimmelman, who died in 1984. His daughter Betsy Karel was the signatory for the entity 555 Fifth Avenue Associates in 2004. Karel is also stepdaughter of Martin Kimmel, cofounder of Kimco Realty.  Another of Kimmelman’s daughters, Abby Leigh, signed a loan in at the building in 1986.

Within a 400-foot radius of 555 5th Avenue, PincusCo identified 13 commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those 13 items, one was for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. It was an initial temporary certificate of occupancy issued on March 25, 2020 for the $5.3 million renovation of 323,029-square-foot B building with no residential units at 360 Madison Avenue.
Of those 13 items, four were sales above $5 million totaling $458.2 million. The most recent of the four was SJD, LLC which bought the 57,352-square-foot, one-unit office building (O6) on 576 5th Avenue for $101 million from Severn Realty Partners on July 13, 2021.
Of those 13 items, eight were loans above $5 million totaling $1.4 billion. The most recent of the eight was Stawski Partners which borrowed $93.0 million from Apple Bank for Savings secured by the 345,048-square-foot, 37-unit office building (O4) on 563 5th Avenue and one other property on October 22, 2021.

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