Extell signs $36M contract for Midtown West church air rights, unclear for what project

Gary Barnett of Extell Development signed a contract dated August 10, 2025, to purchase approximately 123,000 square feet of development rights from Saint Thomas Church, which owns a landmarked church property at 678 Fifth Avenue, at the corner of 53rd Street, in Midtown West in Manhattan. The contract was disclosed in a filing the church made that is part of the process for a nonprofit or religious organization to sell a substantial asset. The church building is not being sold and Saint Thomas Church is not impacted other than receiving $36 million for the air rights, once the sale closes.
Extell is buying the air rights through the entity Extell Acquisitions LLC, a Delaware-based entity the firm has used since at least 2014. The filing does not disclose the receiver site. Under the regulations governing transferable development rights, it should typically be within a block or two of the church.

Extell Development has two large projects nearby, 871 Seventh Avenue and 655 Madison Avenue, but insiders speculated they were too far away to be recipients for these air rights.

Case LINK

An appraisal that the brokerage firm B6 Real Estate Advisors prepared for Saint Thomas Church identifies 11 likely recipients, all of those clustered into two potential assemblages. The four Fifth Avenue properties that make up the closer assemblage are owned by two separate owners. One of those owners, Metropole Realty Advisors, is fighting off a foreclosure suit, in part by alleging the property could be sold for a residential conversion instead of being maintained as an office building.

The other potential assemblage, 31-43 West 54th Street, is composed of seven buildings with as many as six owners.

The documents say, in part, “After extensive arm’s-length negotiations, Saint Thomas has agreed to sell approximately 123,000 square feet of development rights to Extell Acquisitions LLC (“Extell”) — a major Manhattan developer — for $36,000,000.00 (the “Transaction”)… Seller represents and warrants to Purchaser that is has not dealt or negotiated with… any broker… other than B6 Real Estate Advisors… Purchaser represents that it has not dealt with any Broker…”

The property

The property in Midtown West has 30,805 square feet of built space and 230,466 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 261,300 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 100 feet and is 260 feet deep with a total lot size of 26,130 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 property is in the Individual Landmark. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $73.5 million.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received $1,375 in OATH penalties in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

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 3rd highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $2.6 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Midtown West is the 2nd most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 40.6 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 53 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the three commercial properties representing 500,177 square feet of the 706,703 square feet. The identified owner is Empire Capital Holdings. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 678 5th Avenue, PincusCo identified seven commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those seven items, one was for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. It was a permit issued on March 18, 2025 for the $1.4 million renovation of 171,504-square-foot business (COM) building with zero residential units at 680 5th Avenue. Of those seven items, four were sales above $5 million totaling $90.2 million. The most recent of the four was William R. Berkley Foundation which bought the 24,449-square-foot, one-unit office building (O2) on 9 West 54th Street for $38.2 million from Skyline Developers on June 16, 2025. Of those seven items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $1.3 billion. The most recent of the two was Brookfield Properties in which borrowed $1.2 billion from Citibank, Bank of America, Santander Bank, Barclays, and ING Capital secured by one condo unit in the 1,169,666-square-foot, 125-unit mixed-use building (RC) on 666 5th Avenue and one other property on October 30, 2025.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.