Columbia Property Trust has closed on its $87.7 million purchase of 149 Madison Avenue, its fourth Midtown South acquisition this year.
Scooping up the 12-story, 1916 building on a ground lease that expires in January, Columbia plans to renovate the building inside and out, modernizing its infrastructure and updating the finishes.
At 127,000 s/f, the NoMad office building brings Columbia’s total Midtown acquisitions to 900,000 s/f on the year, the others being 245-249 West 17th Street and 218 West 18th Street in Chelsea and a joint interest in 114 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District; 149 Madison is Columbia’s eighth commercial property in New York City.
Redgate has been hired to manage the building’s repositioning, Gensler is the architect in charge and Highland Associates will engineer the project. Once complete, Newmark Knight Frank will head the leasing efforts.
“We view the redevelopment and subsequent re-leasing of 149 Madison Avenue as a compelling value creation proposition that complements our otherwise well-leased Manhattan portfolio,” said Nelson Mills, president and CEO of Columbia Property Trust. “We have enjoyed a tremendous amount of success with our similar small floor-plate, boutique buildings in Midtown South, and we intend to leverage our scale and expertise to reposition 149 Madison to compete among the best product in this thriving submarket.”
