iStar buys stake in ground-leased fee at 32 Old Slip valued at $90.5M

By Varvara Budetti and Adam Pincus

iStar purchased a stake in the ground-leased fee at 32 Old Slip, also known as One Financial Square, from the Melohn family for $90.5 million, according to city property records recorded today.

iStar made the purchase through the entity 32 Old Stream Member LLC. The deal closed on June 25, 2021 and was recorded on June 30, 2021.

iStar has continued to acquire assets over the past several years, including buying the fee under 61 Bond Street in Downtown Brooklyn for $45 million.

Melohn Properties acquired the fee in 2015 along with other investors including David Werner for $197.5 million from Beacon Capital Partners. That deal happened simultaneously as RXR Realty bought the building from Beacon Capital Partners in 2015 for $477 million, with the two transactions totaling $675 million. At the same time, RXR signed a 150-year ground lease with Werner and Melohn.

At the time, the sale was reported as RXR paying $675 million and then selling the fee to Werner and Melohn, but city records show a direct deal. It’s possible RXR signed a contract to acquire the fee and the ground lease and assigned the contract to Werner and Melohn.

The property has 973,587 square feet of built space, according to city records.

Representatives for Melohn Properties, David Werner and RXR did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Within a 400-foot radius of 32 Old Slip, PincusCo identified four commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.

Of those four items, two were sales above $5 million totaling $395.0 million. The most recent of the two was Nightingale Properties and Wafra which bought the 990,250-square-foot, three-unit office building (O4) on 111 Wall Street for $220.0 million from Korein family on June 23, 2021. Of those four items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $330.0 million. The most recent of the two was Nightingale Properties and Wafra which borrowed $230.0 million from PIMCO secured by the 990,250-square-foot, three-unit office building (O4) on 111 Wall Street on June 23, 2021.

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