Savanna, a New York-based real estate private equity and asset management firm, announced that it has acquired 110 William Street in a joint venture with KBS Capital Advisors.
The property is a 32-story, 928,000 s/f office tower located at the corner of William and John Streets in Downtown Manhattan’s Financial District.
Savanna and KBS purchased the building from Swig Equities and the Dubai Investment Group for $261.1 million, or $281 per square foot.
Douglas Harmon and Adam Spies of Eastdil Secured were exclusive advisors for the transaction. Savanna was represented by Laurie Grasso and Susan Saslow of Hunton & Williams in the acquisition and Carl Schwartz of Hunton & Williams in the joint venture with KBS Capital Advisors.
110 William Street is located in the heart of Lower Manhattan, a neighborhood that has seen rapidly rising office rents in recent months.
“Our acquisition of 110 will accelerate the positive transformation of William Street that is occurring as institutional firms continue to buy and upgrade many of the adjacent properties,” said Nicholas Bienstock, managing partner at Savanna. “By investing in and improving the building, we expect to attract the same diverse group of tenants that we have been able to attract to our other Downtown properties.”
110 William Street offers direct entry from its lobby to the subway and the future Fulton Center, a new major transit hub scheduled for completion in late June 2014.
“It’s an exciting time to be investing in Downtown Manhattan as the long transformation has arrived, with over $30 billion in capital invested in Downtown from both the public and private sector over the last ten years,” said Spies.
“As Downtown has become the epicenter of the region’s vast pool of high-value, knowledge workers, the demand for office space continues to increase, evidenced by 22 percent year over year increase in rental rates as of first quarter 2014.”
Savanna plans to undertake a capital improvement plan at the building during its hold period which includes modernizing the lobby and entrance, renovating the roof and façade, and upgrading bathrooms and corridors.
The Newmark Grubb Knight Frank team of Hal Stein, Andrew Peretz, Adam Leshowitz, and Todd Stracci will lead leasing efforts, while Swig Equities will provide property management services.
