Lotte pays $491.1M to Archdiocese of NY for ground leased fee in Midtown East

UPDATED 4:08 p.m., May 7, 2026: Lotte Corporation through the entity Lotte Hotel New York Palace, LLC paid $491.1 million through for the ground leased fee owned by the Archdiocese of New York and Roman Catholic Church through the entity The Archdiocese Of New York for the hotel building (H1) at 455 Madison Avenue in Midtown East, Manhattan, retail building (O5) at 457 Madison Avenue in Midtown East, Manhattan, and retail building (K2) at 35 East 50th Street in Midtown East, Manhattan. The expected use is cash flowing.

Lotte Corporation is the tenant under the ground lease, and so now controls both the lease and the fee.
The deal closed on April 30, 2026 and was recorded on May 6, 2026. The three properties have 866,090 square feet of built space and 56,256 square feet of additional air rights according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $567 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 Archdiocese of New York and Roman Catholic Church was John Cahill . The signatory for Lotte Corporation was Jihong Lee . The contract date was November 12, 2025. PincusCo reported on this transaction in December 2025 based on court records.

Prior sales, articles and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Lotte Corporation had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Archdiocese of New York had not purchased any other properties and sold four properties in two transactions for a total of $116 million over the same time period. The three properties with a total of 866,090 square feet of built space generated revenue of $188.8 million per year or $218 per square foot. The sale price per square foot was $567.
Commercial Observer reported on December 11, 2025 that Lotte New York Palace (Lotte Group) paid $490 million to Archdiocese of New York for 455 Madison Avenue, Manhattan, NY.

The Real Deal reported on December 12, 2025 that Lotte Hotels and Resorts paid $490 million to Archdiocese of New York for 455 Madison Avenue, Manhattan, NY.

The property

The hotel building in Midtown East has 866,090 square feet of built space and 56,256 square feet of additional air rights according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 140 feet and is 200 feet deep with a total lot size of 35,720 square feet. The lot is irregular. 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 $257.8 million.

Violations and lawsuits

The properties were involved in one lawsuit and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The suit was a $490 million judgment concerning a leave to sell filed on December 11, 2025, by Roman Catholic Church and Archdiocese of New York against Lotte. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received two DOB violations and $9,500 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot buildings, two out of the three buildings received a initial certificate of occupancy in the last ten years. 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 $5.4 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Midtown East is the 3rd most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 20.7 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 33 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 455 Madison Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the five commercial properties representing 1,522,526 square feet of the 1,596,981 square feet. The two identified owners are Munich Re and Roman Catholic Church.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 52 percent of the 1.6 million square feet of built space are hotel buildings, with office buildings next occupying 46 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Roman Catholic Church owned at least 152 commercial properties with 886 residential units in New York City with 6,567,367 square feet and a PincusCo-determined asset value of $2.9 billion. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 32 percent of the 6,567,367 square feet of built space are specialty properties, with hotel properties next occupying 25 percent of the space. The bulk, or 39 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 29 percent of the space.
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Archdiocese Of New York owned at least 152 commercial properties with 886 residential units in New York City with 6,567,367 square feet and a PincusCo-determined asset value of $2.9 billion. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 32 percent of the 6,567,367 square feet of built space are specialty properties, with hotel properties next occupying 25 percent of the space. The bulk, or 39 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 29 percent of the space.

UPDATED with clarification that this transaction was for the ground leased fee.

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