Vornado trustee pays $28.5M for office in Midtown West

David Mandelbaum, a trustee of Vornado Realty Trust, and his son Michael Mandelbaum through the entity 245 West 55th St LLC paid $28.5 million to DuArt Media Services through the entity Du-Art Film Laboratories, Inc. for the office building (O3) at 245 West 55th Street in Midtown West, Manhattan.
The deal closed on June 6, 2023 and was recorded on June 8, 2023. The property has 63,450 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $449 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 DuArt Media Services was Linda Young. The signatory for David Mandelbaum and Michael Mandelbaum was Michael Mandelbaum. David is the father of Michael Mandelbaum. David Mandelbaum is a long-time real estate investor and trustee of Vornado Realty Trust.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer David Mandelbaum had purchased any other properties and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $19.5 million over the past 24 months.
The seller DuArt Media Services had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The 63,450-square-foot property generated revenue of $3.2 million or $50 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The office building in Midtown West has 63,450 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 60 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 6,025 square feet. The zoning is C6-4 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 city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $13 million. The most recent loan totaled $6 million and was provided by Signature Bank on June 18, 2020.

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 one DOB violation and $1,100 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 West, The majority, or 75 percent of the 75.9 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 14 percent of the space. In sales, Midtown West has the 5th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $2.5 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Midtown West is the 2nd 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 21 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the 20 commercial properties representing 103,702 square feet of the 723,648 square feet. The largest owner is James T. Kim, followed by East West Realty and then DuArt Media Services.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 81 percent of the 723,648 square feet of built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 6 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Duart Media Services owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 63,450 square feet and a city-determined market value of $13 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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