Dealmaker: APF Properties Buys 183 Madison Avenue for $223M

APF Properties, New York, purchased 183 Madison Avenue, a 19-story office building in Manhattan’s Midtown South neighborhood, for $222.5 million.

CBRE Chairman and Head of New York City Capital Markets Darcy Stacom and First Vice President Ryan Spector represented sellers Tishman Speyer and Cogswell Lee Development, both headquartered in New York, in the transaction.

“Tishman Speyer and Cogswell Lee’s stewardship of 183 Madison Avenue has made it a highly competitive asset in the sought-after Midtown South submarket,” Stacom said.

APF also owns nearby 286 Madison Avenue, a 131,500-square-foot office building that dates to 1918 with a major renovation in 2008.

Real Capital Analytics, New York, reported Manhattan office deal volume is rising. Deal activity, which fell to a $13 billion pace in third-quarter 2017, increased to the $16 billion range in the second quarter. Average cap rates for Manhattan offices have moved up 20 basis points from their low-water mark in second-quarter 2017.

Tishman Speyer and Cogswell Lee Development acquired the 272,000-square-foot L-shaped property for $185 million in 2014. Also known as the Madison-Belmont Building, 183 Madison Avenue was built in 1925 for the Merchants & Manufacturers Exchange of New York as an office and showroom space for the silk industry.

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building a landmark in 2011. The original architects, Warren & Wetmore, also designed the nearby Grand Central Terminal. 

Current tenants at the 94-percent occupied property include fashion company Dreamwear, which recently expanded to two floors at the building, architecture firm Spector Group and furniture retailer Domus Design Center. 

New York tenant broker Optimal Spaces called demand for New York office space “robust” and said Manhattan recorded 4.17 million square feet of new leases and renewals in May, nearly 83 percent higher than a year before.