Extell pays $19M to Kairos for Friars Club building in Midtown East

Extell Development through the entity 57 East 55th Street LLC paid $19 million to Kairos Investment Management Company through the entity Kairos Friars Club Re, LLC for the landmarked Friars Club building (P9) at 57 East 55th Street in Midtown East, Manhattan. The expected use is cash flowing.
The deal closed on April 23, 2026 and was recorded on May 18, 2026. The property has 14,541 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,306 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, the former lender, acquired the property on February 21, 2025, in a transaction valued at $15.5 million. The signatory for Kairos Investment Management Company was Jonathan A. Needell . The signatory for Extell Development was Marc Kwestel . The contract date was December 18, 2025.

Prior sales, articles and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Extell Development purchased 32 properties in 16 transactions for a total of $1.1 billion and sold 10 properties in four transactions for a total of $182.8 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Kairos Investment Management Company purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $15.5 million and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The specialty building in Midtown East has 14,541 square feet of built space and 18,641 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 33,170 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 33 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 3,317 square feet. The zoning is C5-2.5 which allows for up to 12 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $4 million.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was involved in one lawsuit and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The suit was a $3.5 million money judgment concerning a contract filed on November 8, 2024, by Kairos Credit Strategies Operating Partnership against Jeffrey Chodorow, Dean Adler, and Lubert-Adler Partner. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received one DOB violation 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 Midtown East, The majority, or 81 percent of the 62.6 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 7 percent of the space. In sales, Midtown East has the highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $6.4 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Midtown East is the 3rd most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 19.7 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 32 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of seven of the eight commercial properties representing 1,946,349 square feet of the 2,316,136 square feet. The largest owner is Hessen Lawyers Pension Fund, followed by Olayan Group and then Sl Green Realty.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 100 percent of the 2.3 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 0 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Extell Development owned at least 96 commercial properties with 2,368 residential units in New York City with 5,570,452 square feet and a PincusCo-determined asset value of $7.5 billion. The portfolio has $8.3 billion in debt, with top three lenders as JPMorgan Chase, Guggenheim Partners, and Blackstone Group respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 42 percent of the 5,570,452 square feet of built space are condo properties, with specialty properties next occupying 19 percent of the space.

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