Hebrew Union College pays $32M to Disney for office in Lincoln Square

Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion paid $32 million to the Walt Disney Company through the entity American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. for the office building (O2) at 56 West 66th Street in Lincoln Square, Manhattan. The expected use is owner-occupied.
The deal closed on February 7, 2025 and was recorded on February 12, 2025. The property has 42,674 square feet of built space and 132,375 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 175,100 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $749 and the price per buildable square foot is $182 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 Walt Disney Company was Jennifer Cohen. The signatory for Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute Of Religion was Andrew Rehfeld. The contract date was November 21, 2024.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute Of Religion had purchased any other properties and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $75.5 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Walt Disney Company had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The 42,674-square-foot property generated revenue of $2.6 million or $62 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The office building in Lincoln Square has 42,674 square feet of built space and 132,375 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 175,100 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 174 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 17,510 square feet. The zoning is C4-7 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 property is in the Individual Landmark. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $12.9 million.

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 $1,200 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on August 17, 2012. There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot. On the tax lot, the most recent condominium plan was filed by WEST 66TH SPONSOR LLC to create 127 residential units and 2 commercial units in a building at 50 West 66th Street in Lincoln Square, Manhattan, called 50 West 66th Street Condominiumthat has a $1.6 billion sellout, according to an December 28, 2018 submission to the New York State Attorney General. The principal of the sponsor, WEST 66TH SPONSOR LLC, was Gary Barnett.

The neighborhood

In Lincoln Square, The majority, or 61 percent of the 19.1 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 24 percent of the space. In sales, Lincoln Square has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $177.6 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Lincoln Square has 2.9 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 8th highest in Manhattan. It had 3.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 17 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the eight commercial properties representing 1,100,583 square feet of the 1,219,481 square feet. The identified owner is Extell Development.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 505,482 square feet. It is a 127-unit, 505,482 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Extell Development and filed by David Rothstein with plans filed November 17, 2015 and permitted November 18, 2016.

The majority, or 91 percent of the 1.2 million square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with retail buildings next occupying 5 percent of the space.

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