CRAINS BUSINESS NEW YORK

EDDIE SMALL

A pair of real estate firms based in Manhattan and Sweden have purchased a Midtown East site for about $31 million to expand a development project they are working on.

GDSNY and Klövern are the new owners of 407 Park Ave. between East 54th and East 55th streets, according to property records and a news release from Klövern. The seller, Maryland-based Land Finance, bought the property in 2010 for $8.7 million. The site is currently home to a 2-story, 4,300-square-foot commercial building, city records show.

The two real estate firms purchased all 29 units of the adjacent 14-story cooperative at 417 Park Ave. for $184 million last year to take advantage of the Midtown East rezoning the city passed in 2017. The rezoning allows for 417 Park Ave. to house a roughly 220,000-square-foot office building. The purchase of 407 Park Ave., which includes 32,000 buildable square feet, adds to the development opportunities, according to the companies.

“This building represents a great addition to our portfolio given its strategic location,” GDSNY co-founder Alan Rudikoff said in a statement. “We see incredible opportunity for the future on Park Avenue and in Midtown Manhattan.”

GDSNY’s and Klövern’s other projects in the city include a 155,000-square-foot boutique office building at 118 10th Ave. in Chelsea and a 200,000-square-foot office and retail building at 1245 Broadway in NoMad.

“We see a bright future for New York City and are pleased to continue to acquire these assets with our partners GDSNY,” Jens Andersson, Klövern’s finance chief, said in a statement.

A new major Midtown East office building would provide a significant boost to the city’s construction industry, which got off to its slowest start in more than a decade this year as New York looks to emerge from the devastating impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a report from the Real Estate Board of New York. Companies filed plans for new projects spanning about 5.4 million square feet overall during the first quarter, the lowest total since the fourth quarter of 2010, the report said.

Other recent mid-market investment sales in Manhattan include the Chapman Group buying a pair of commercial buildings on East 62nd Street from Ron Perelman’s firm MacAndrews & Forbes for $35 million and the Davis Cos. buying 155–165 W. 29th St. in Chelsea for $62.5 million.