Office Tower Near the U.N. HQ Trades at Steep Discount

Real estate investor David Werner has gone into contract to purchase 300 East 42nd Street for $52 million. Located one block west of the United Nations headquarters, the 18-story, 235,000-square-foot property last traded in August 2019, when Somerset Properties and Meadow Partners purchased the full block tower for $122.5 million from German nonprofit ULM Holding. According to news reports at the time, Brookfield Asset Management provided $100 million in financing to close on the sale, which consolidated existing debt with newly provided building and project loans. ULM owned the tower since 1996, having purchased it through a foreclosure auction for $19.5 million. In December 2021 Fortress provided a $27 million in mezzanine debt and a $110 million senior loan to refinance the building, which included a newly originated $4 million gap mortgage. However, in 2023 Somerset and Meadow Partners reportedly decided to hand back the keys to the lender. Other recent acquisition activity by Werner includes the $216 million purchase of 100 Wall Street with BLDG Management in July 2024, having last traded in 2015 for $270 million; and an agreement with the Durst Organization to purchase 675 Third Avenue for more than $100 million, a roughly 340,000-square-foot building developed by Durst in 1966.

Source:    https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2025/02/06/david-werner-buying-300-east-42nd-street/