Extell pays $175M to Korean firm to expand dev site in Midtown West

Gary Barnett’s Extell Development through the entity 576 5th LLC paid $175 million to Sae-A Trading Co. through the entity SJD, LLC for the development parcel (V1) at 576 Fifth Avenue in Midtown West, Manhattan. The expected use is ground up development.

The New York Post reported on this transaction earlier, noting this purchase expands the Extell development site at 574 Fifth Avenue, giving it the full 200 feet of frontage along Fifth Avenue from 46th to 47th streets.
The deal closed on March 20, 2025 and was recorded on April 4, 2025. The property has 57,352 square feet of built space and 50,410 square feet of additional air rights according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $3,051 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 seller bought the property on July 12, 2021, for $101 million. The signatory for Sae-A Trading Co. was Jae Young Kim. The signatory for Extell Development was Marc Kwestel . The contract date was March 20, 2025. The NY Post reported the seller as the Korean company Sae-A Trading Co.

David Rothstein, of Extell Development submitted a new building construction project for a 752,759 square-foot building at 574 Fifth Avenue in Midtown West, Manhattan. The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on September 6, 2024 under job number M01093960. It calls for the construction of an approximately 30-story building.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Extell Development purchased six properties in four transactions for a total of $298.8 million and sold 11 properties in 11 transactions for a total of $521.2 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Sae-A Trading Co. had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The development building in Midtown West has 57,352 square feet of built space and 50,410 square feet of additional air rights according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 50 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 5,041 square feet. 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 $28.2 million. The most recent loan totaled $60 million and was provided by KEB Hana Bank on July 12, 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 three DOB violations, $6,250 in ECB penalties, and $9,000 in OATH penalties in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Midtown West, The majority, or 75 percent of the 75.9 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 14 percent of the space. In sales, Midtown West has the 2nd highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $2.7 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Midtown West is the most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 32.4 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 43 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 31 of the 41 commercial properties representing 1,134,999 square feet of the 1,198,913 square feet. The largest owner is Northwood Investors, followed by Extell Development and then Alishaev Brothers.
On the tax block, there were three new building construction projects totaling 761,391 square feet. The largest is a 752,759 square-foot 56 building submitted by Extell Development and filed by David Rothstein with plans filed September 6, 2024 and permitted February 26, 2025. The second largest is a 4,790 square-foot mercantile (M) building submitted by Roger Merriman with plans filed June 15, 2015 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 78 percent of the 1.2 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Extell Development owned at least 68 commercial properties with 676 residential units in New York City. The portfolio has $7.1 billion in debt, with top three lenders as Guggenheim Partners, Blackstone Group, and JVP Management respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 38 percent of the 2,830,252 square feet of built space are specialty properties, with elevator properties next occupying 21 percent of the space. The bulk, or 96 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 4 percent of the space.

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