Whether the real estate market is flying high or plagued by a downturn, there’s a certain prestige to owning a premier Manhattan office tower. And when one of these properties changes hands, it’s always big news in the commercial real estate investment community. Such was the case with the change in ownership of 245 Park Avenue in September 2022. You can’t miss it. 245 Park is a striking, 1.8 million-square-foot office high-rise occupying an entire block along one of the most prominent corporate corridors in the world, and it belongs to the New York-focused REIT SL Green Corp. Most office transactions are as simple as the buyer getting financing to pay the seller and the seller turning over the property upon receipt of the agreed-upon price. But SL Green’s road to acquiring the 44-story tower from China-based conglomerate HNA Group was anything but typical.
When SL Green took possession of 245 Park, the industry was abuzz for more reasons than one. There was a great deal of drama attached to the change in ownership of the property, and it all began in October 2021 when owner HNA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a move linked directly to the company’s $2.2 billion purchase of 245 Park from a joint venture of Brookfield Property Partners, Clarion Partners, and the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System in 2017. HNA recapitalized 245 Park in 2018, and that’s where SL Green came into the picture. SL Green made a $148.
Read more at Propmodo.