CSC, David Werner pay $52M to Meadow, Somerset in short sale in Murray Hill

UPDATED 12:02 p.m., May 8, 2025: CSC Real Estate, along with David Werner Real Estate Investments, through the entity 300 East Holdings LLC paid $52 million through a short sale to Meadow Partners and Somerset Partners through the entity 300 East 42nd Street Owner LLC for the office building (O6) at 300 East 42nd Street also known as 768 Second Avenue in Murray Hill, Manhattan. According to the Ten31’s the Promote, Werner signed a contract to purchase the building, then flipped control to the Smeke family’s CSC Real Estate, formerly known as CSC Coliving.
CSC Real Estate and David Werner closed on his purchase on April 23, 2025 and it was recorded on May 6, 2025.

The property has 207,887 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $250 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.)
Meadow Partners and Somerset Partners bought the property on August 28, 2019, for $122.5 million. The signatory for Meadow Partners and Somerset Partners was Meadow partner Timothy Yantz . The signatory for CSC Real Estate and David Werner Real Estate Investments was David Werner . The contract date was January 30, 2025. The transaction was a short sale, between Meadow and Somerset as sellers and Werner as buyer, with the loss in value absorbed by the sellers as well as Fortress, according to a source familiar with the transaction.

The Real Deal reported in February 2025 that David Werner was in contract to buy the building for $52 million, identifying the seller as the lender Fortress Investment Group, for $52 million, however Fortress was not the seller.

While David Werner has reportedly sold the upper portion of the building to CSC Real Estate he did sign a 99-year lease with himself, for the retail on the lower level and ground floor.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer David Werner Real Estate Investments purchased five properties in five transactions for a total of $461.2 million and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $275 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Meadow Partners purchased four properties in one transaction for a total of $23 million and sold five properties in four transactions for a total of $134.4 million over the same time period. The 207,887-square-foot property generated revenue of $14 million or $67 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The office building in Murray Hill has 207,887 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 197 feet and is 70 feet deep with a total lot size of 13,800 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C5-2 which allows for up to 10 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 $65 million. The most recent loan totaled $110 million and was provided by Fortress Investment Group on December 7, 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 $350 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 Murray Hill, The majority, or 54 percent of the 11 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with office buildings next occupying 22 percent of the space. In sales, Murray Hill has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $81 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Murray Hill has 2.2 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 15th highest in Manhattan. It had 2.6 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 23 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the two commercial properties representing 207,887 square feet of the 349,645 square feet. The identified owner is David Werner Real Estate Investments.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 59 percent of the 349,645 square feet of built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 41 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Meadow Partners owned at least 34 commercial properties with 403 residential units in New York City with 1,478,606 square feet and a city-determined market value of $342.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $625.4 million in debt, with top three lenders as Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, Fortress Investment Group, and Hudson Bay Capital Management respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 60 percent of the 1,478,606 square feet of built space are office properties, with walkup properties next occupying 14 percent of the space. The bulk, or 76 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 24 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that David Werner Real Estate Investments owned at least seven commercial properties with 143 residential units in New York City with 2,071,289 square feet and a city-determined market value of $649.8 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 93 percent of the 2,071,289 square feet of built space are office properties, with elevator properties next occupying 6 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

Correction: An earlier version of this post did not include CSC Real Estate as the buyer. The first publication to report that Werner would flip and that the buyer was CSC was the Ten31’s the Promote. 

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