Mogull Realty Sells Buckingham Hotel

Published August 22, 2007

STARWOOD'S 'GRAND' PLAN STEINWAY DEAL ON W. 57TH By LOIS WEISS Last Updated: 5:00 AM, August 22, 2007 Posted: 5:00 AM, August 22, 2007 BARRY Sternlicht's Starwood Capital is this close to scooping up the landmarked Steinway Building next to the Ritz Thrift Shop site on West 57th Street for about $1,000 a foot, or $225 million, give or take. Sources say the Steinway, which has a showroom in the ornate property also known as the Economist Building, would lease back space. Steinway owns the building and subleases it to a variety of small-office tenants including XM Satellite Radio's "Opie & Anthony" show, which is now enlarging its studio. In 1999, Steinway signed a ground-lease deal with Wexford Trust and leased back showroom space through December 2008. According to city records, the master lease includes a variety of purchase and sale options. Sources say the Queen of Skyscrapers, CB Richard Ellis' Darcy Stacom, and partner Bill Shanahan co-ordinated the pending deal. Steinway referred calls to Stacom, but neither she nor Shanahan returned calls for comment. Last October, Between the Bricks reported that Starwood had paid $52 million for the Ritz site at 105 W. 57th St., where it planned to erect a hotel and suggested it would be its luxury Crillon brand. Meanwhile, Starwood announced another luxe brand, Baccarat, as well as the dreadfully dubbed 1 Hotel & Residences, a "green" boutique chain that will incorporate Steve Hanson's BR Guest restaurant. Starwood's Edd Hendee said, "There's no deal and we are negotiating. We're talking to several people on West 57th Street, and to the extent we can work out a deal, 57th Street is a good start for either a Crillion or a Baccarat." The narrow Ritz site and its development rights alone, Hendee said, "don't have the presence we need. If it worked out [with Steinway] fine, but we have other opportunities and other people we are talking to." Hendee said Starwood is not negotiating with the Buckingham Hotel on the other side of the Ritz site. Nor are talks being held with Gary Barnett of Extell Development for the towers he is developing further west opposite Carnegie Hall and at the Art Student's League. The Buckingham Hotel, by the way, was quietly sold to a joint venture with the Buckingham's longtime family owner Stephen Shapiro. Kim Mogull of Mogull Realty represented all the parties in that off-market sale. * APF Properties, which, as we reported last week, sold 1414 Avenue of the Americas to David Werner and Murray Hill Properties for $120.5 million, has retained the prestigious Marian Goodman Gallery at another of its nearby buildings. APF bought 24 W. 57th St. last year for $69 million to create a destination for premier art galleries. Goodman, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary in September, is renewing its lease to 2016 and expanding to take up the fourth floor and part of the third floor, or about 14,200 feet. Andrew Sachs and Carri Lyon of Cushman & Wakefield repped Goodman, while Steve Pressler of Promenade Realty negotiated for APF. Asking rents are in the low $70s a foot. * Wells Real Estate Investment Trust II closed on the 391,000-foot building on 222 E. 41st St. for $319.8 million. All but the 23rd floor of the sparkling 25-story tower built in 2001 are fully leased to tenants like Jones Day. The building was sold - subject to a ground lease that ends in 2051 - by the Zeta-Ceres fund controlled by the Anglo Irish Bank, which is now partially funding the purchase. Wayne Maggin of Eastdil Secured repped the sellers. * The 11-story garment manufacturing and showroom building at 240 W. 37th St. was sold to Isaac Chetrit (Joseph's cousin) in July for $44 million after being acquired at auction in 1980 for $901,000 by Witklag Realty. The approximately 132,000-foot building is fully rented at submarket rates. It likely will be renovated to an upscale showroom property. Sales brokers Neil Helman, Vin Carrega and Paul Yager of Grubb & Ellis worked with Neil's dad, Alan Helman of Walter & Samuels, and with independent broker Irving Tuchman to make the deal. * The super sweet, 181-unit Private Residences at the Plaza will be managed by David Kuperberg's Cooper Square Realty. Plaza redeveloper Miki Naftali's El-ad Properties has tapped Cooper Square to take over the condo association as well as the building itself. Two managers will be installed on site. * My memory of Leona Helmsley: after Harry Helmsley died in 1997, then recently widowed Leona made a rare appearance at the 1998 Real Estate Board of New York's annual dinner as its Distinguished New Yorker Award was being named in Harry's honor. At the end of the evening, I spotted her in the epicenter of the Hilton ballroom and kneeled before her dining table to chat. Moments later, her untouched dessert was whisked away by an overexuberant waiter. Leona turned to complain, but he was already gone. Waving her hand in dismissal, she looked back at me and declared, "That would never have happened in one of my hotels." lois.weiss@nypost.com