David Werner, Metro Loft pay $100M to Durst in Grand Central for resi conversion

David Werner Real Estate Investments and Metro Loft Management through the entity 675 Third Owner LLC paid $100.2 million to the Durst Organization through the entity Dolp 675 Properties Ii LLC for the office building (O4) at 675 Third Avenue in Grand Central, Manhattan. The expected use is conversion/addition.

The buyers obtained an acquisition loan from Northwind Group totaling $90 million, and of that $67.5 million was recorded in city records.
The deal closed on April 1, 2025 and was recorded on April 16, 2025. The property has 289,356 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $346 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 signatory for Durst Organization was Alexander Durst. The signatory for David Werner Real Estate Investments and Metro Loft Management was David Werner . The contract date was January 9, 2025.

The Real Deal first reported the sale when it went into contract, and the Commercial Observer reported Metro Loft was a partner, as well as the $90 million Northwind Group loan.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer David Werner Real Estate Investments purchased four properties in four transactions for a total of $361 million and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $275 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Durst Organization had not purchased any other properties and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $2.5 million over the same time period. The 289,356-square-foot property generated revenue of $19.5 million or $67 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The office building in Grand Central has 289,356 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 200 feet and is 105 feet deep with a total lot size of 18,578 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 $99 million. The most recent loan totaled $300 million and was provided by Citibank on April 20, 2021.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $8,810 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

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 the 9th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.2 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Grand Central is the 7th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 6.4 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 four commercial properties representing 1,261,818 square feet of the 1,403,226 square feet. The two identified owners are David Werner Real Estate Investments and Durst Organization.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

All properties are office.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Durst Organization owned at least 50 commercial properties with 2,194 residential units in New York City with 9,947,749 square feet and a city-determined market value of $4.1 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $4.2 billion in debt, with top three lenders as Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 81 percent of the 9,947,749 square feet of built space are office properties, with elevator properties next occupying 17 percent of the space. The bulk, or 89 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Queens next at 11 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Metro Loft Management owned at least eight commercial properties with 2,468 residential units in New York City with 3,065,011 square feet and a city-determined market value of $770.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $595.7 million in debt, with top three lenders as Deutsche Bank, Athene Holding, and Bank Hapoalim respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 66 percent of the 3,065,011 square feet of built space are office properties, with elevator properties next occupying 34 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.
The PincusCo database currently indicates that David Werner Real Estate Investments owned at least four commercial properties with 133 residential units in New York City with 1,564,426 square feet and a city-determined market value of $493.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $100 million in debt, borrowed from Northwind Group. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 92 percent of the 1,564,426 square feet of built space are office properties, with elevator properties next occupying 8 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

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