28 Liberty Street (Credit: Twitter and SOM)
UPDATE, Oct. 10, 10:27 a.m.: The real estate arm of Fosun International is reportedly looking to sell its 60-story Financial District tower 28 Liberty for an eye-watering $1.6 billion.
The Chinese industrial conglomerate bought the tower for $725 million in 2013, when it was called 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza and owned by JPMorgan Chase. Fosun quickly embarked on a repositioning of the 2.2 million-square-foot building, sinking millions into a renovation and attracting tenants like Booking.com, financial trading firm Broadway Technology and the New York Attorney General’s office.
According to Real Estate Alert, which first reported that the building is for sale, 200,000 square feet of office space remains unleased. CBRE is marketing the building on behalf of Fosun. If it trades at asking price, the building would go for about $730 a square foot.
A representative for Fosun denied the report and said that the company was open to “having a strategic partner for 28 Liberty,” but would retain majority ownership.
The investment sales market in Lower Manhattan has been quiet this year. In 2017, Paramount Group and Morgan Stanley sold the 1.8 million-square-foot 60 Wall Street for $1.04 billion ($555 psf), and Brookfield Property Partners sold a 49 percent stake in 1 Liberty Plaza to Blackstone Group for $759.5 million, which valued the 2.3 million-square-foot tower at $1.55 billion.
In 2018, Fosun has signed the London Stock Exchange Group and information-services firm Wolters Kluwer to a combined 200,000 square feet in leases. Alamo Drafthouse is set to open a 10-screen multiplex at the property, and Danny Meyer is opening a sprawling restaurant on the 60th floor.
Fuson refinanced the property late last year with an $800 million loan from Deutsche Bank and HSBC. [Real Estate Alert] — David Jeans
Update: This story has been updated to include a comment from Fosun’s spokesperson.
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