New York Life acquires Midtown East office from BGO by deed-in-lieu, valued at $150M: Sources

New York Life Insurance Company through the entity REEP-Ofc 757 Third Avenue NY LLC acquired through a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure the office building (O4) at 757 Third Avenue in Midtown East, Manhattan, from BGO, through the entity MEPT 757 Third Avenue LLC, in a transfer valued for tax purposes at $173.1 million, which was the outstanding debt. Industry sources said New York Life estimated the property was valued at about $150 million.

It’s unclear if that price is the value of the property or simply the remaining debt on the building. The use of the prefix REEP may indicate that New York Life plans to hold on to the building, since many entities it uses to own property begin with REEP.

The Commercial Observer reported on this previously.
The transfer closed on October 20, 2025 and was recorded on October 30, 2025. The property has 407,767 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $424 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 BGO was Melanie Domres . The signatory for New York Life Insurance Company was Carter Anatole . The contract date was October 20, 2025.

BGO bought the property from RFR Holding in April 2015, for $355.5 million. To finance the purchase, New York Life provided a $205 million loan to BGO, through its Life Real Estate Investors, which originated a $205 million 15-year fixed mortgage loan secured by 757 Third Avenue. The borrower was MEPT 757 Third Avenue LLC, of Multi-Employer Property Trust managed by Bentall Kennedy, a predecessor to BGO, formerly known as BentallGreenOak.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer New York Life Insurance Company had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller BGO had not purchased any other properties and sold five properties in four transactions for a total of $86.7 million over the same time period. The 407,767-square-foot property generated revenue of $27.6 million or $68 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The office building in Midtown East has 407,767 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 111 feet and is 235 feet deep with a total lot size of 23,864 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 city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $147.3 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 $50 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial renovation certificate of occupancy on March 23, 2015. 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 2nd highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $3.6 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Midtown East is the 3rd most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 16.2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 26 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other office buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the five commercial properties representing 1,160,243 square feet of the 1,583,412 square feet. The largest owner is Rockpoint Group, followed by Metro Loft Management and then David F. Frankel.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 95 percent of the 1.6 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 5 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that New York Life Insurance Company owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 1,159,795 square feet and a city-determined market value of $306 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio consists of at least a single office property. It is located in Manhattan.

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