Vornado Realty Trust pays $141M to Cohen Brothers Realty for office in Midtown East

Vornado Realty Trust through the entity East 54th Street Ny Property LLC paid $141 million to Cohen Brothers Realty through the entity 3 East 54th New York LLC for the office building (O6) at 3-11 East 54th Street in Midtown East, Manhattan. The expected use is ground up development.
The deal closed on January 7, 2026 and was recorded on January 13, 2026. The property has 283,465 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $497 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 Cohen Brothers Realty was Charles Steven Cohen . The signatory for Vornado Realty Trust was Steven J. Borenstein . The contract date was January 2, 2026.

Crain’s New York Business reported on January 09, 2026 that Vornado Realty Trust paid $141 million to Cohen Brothers Realty for 3 East 54th Street.

Prior sales, articles and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Vornado Realty Trust purchased four properties in three transactions for a total of $237.1 million and sold 16 properties in six transactions for a total of $1.7 billion over the past 24 months.
The seller Cohen Brothers Realty had not purchased any other properties and sold two properties in two transactions for a total of $218 million over the same time period. The 283,465-square-foot property generated revenue of $17.4 million or $62 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The Real Deal reported on January 10, 2026 that Vornado Realty Trust paid $141 million to Cohen Brothers Realty for 3 East 54th Street, Manhattan, NY.

The property

The office building in Midtown East has 283,465 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 183 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 18,409 square feet. The zoning is C5-2.5 which allows for up to 12 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $80.7 million.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was involved in one lawsuit and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The suit was a $85 million commercial foreclosure concerning a loan filed on December 19, 2024, by Forethought Life Insurance Company against Cohen Brothers Realty and Charles Cohen. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received four DOB violations, $6,250 in ECB penalties, and $14,180 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

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 $3.9 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Midtown East is the 3rd most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 18.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 29 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 nine of the 23 commercial properties representing 1,225,741 square feet of the 2,083,024 square feet. The largest owner is Vornado Realty Trust, followed by Boston Properties and then Benenson Capital Partners.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 86 percent of the 2.1 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with retail buildings next occupying 11 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Cohen Brothers Realty owned at least five commercial properties in New York City with 2,383,591 square feet and a city-determined market value of $721.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $396 million in debt, with top three lenders as Citibank, Third Avenue Design Capital, and Wachtel Missry registered respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 97 percent of the 2,383,591 square feet of built space are office properties, with M1 properties next occupying 3 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Vornado Realty Trust owned at least 58 commercial properties with four residential units in New York City with 16,365,574 square feet and a city-determined market value of $7.2 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $7 billion in debt, with top three lenders as JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 74 percent of the 16,365,574 square feet of built space are office properties, with retail properties next occupying 11 percent of the space. The bulk, or 92 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Queens next at 5 percent of the space.

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