Amazon’s Manhattan Footprint Continues to Increase After Closing on 5th Ave Purchase

The recently announced purchase by Amazon of 522 Fifth Avenue took a trio of separate transactions to complete the sale. The deed which hit city records on May 9th lists a $340 million purchase from RFR Realty of the roughly 371,406-square-foot office component, the seller having  paid $350 million in August 2020. The sale of the retail unit similarly closed on May 1 through two transactions – the first was an $85 million purchase by RFR of the approximately 24,786-square-foot unit from Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. and Deka Immobilien GmbH, having last traded in September 2014 for $165 million, followed by a sale to Amazon for what appears to be zero dollars; and if correct, the overall discount of the combined $515 million previously paid is about 32%. A press release by the Commercial Observer noted a price of $800 per square foot according to a source and based on multiple articles noting a building size of 570,000 to 600,000 square feet would indicate a sale price range of $456 million to $480 million. However, upon a review of the 2013 Amended Condo Declaration, the building size may be closer to approximately 475,993 square feet of which about 79,801 square feet is common area, meaning that the price could be about $381 million if the Observer’s source information is accurate. The size of New York City’s buildings has always been a gray area in part due to the calculation of loss factors that continue to increase a building’s size despite no new construction. The 5th Avenue deal is the first Manhattan purchase made by Amazon in 5 years since the e-commerce giant acquired the former Lord and Taylor flagship at 424 Fifth Avenue. The March 2020 sale of the approximately 662,779-square-foot building was valued at $1.367 billion due to the payoff of a $389.285 million construction loan, with Amazon paying $978,090,439. However, on the leasing side, the pace of deals by the company started to pick up in 2023 as news of several big block signings became more frequent leading to a total of approximately 1.239 million square feet in reported deals that included a mix of renewals, expansions and a sublease across six buildings.

Source:     https://product.costar.com/home/news/1125503127

Source: https://commercialobserver.com/2025/05/amazon-sale-522-fifth-avenue-rfr/