BNY Mellon announced it has reached an agreement to sell its One Wall Street office building in lower Manhattan for $585 million to a joint venture led by Macklowe Properties. The sale was brokered by CBRE. The sale is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2014, subject to customary closing conditions.
“We’re pleased to have reached this agreement. Once finalized, it will advance our plan to consolidate office space in New York City, lead to a more functional and efficient work environment for our employees, and deliver a solid financial gain to the company,” said Gerald L. Hassell, chairman and chief executive officer of BNY Mellon. “We expect to announce our decision for new leased space in the New York region in the next two months.”
BNY Mellon has occupied the 50 story, 1.1 million square foot building since 1989, when The Bank of New York acquired the Irving Trust Company. The company’s headquarters moved from 48 Wall Street to One Wall Street in 1998. The original lot was purchased by the Irving Trust Company in 1927 for $14.5 million and construction was completed in March 1931. The building, considered one of New York’s landmark Art Deco skyscrapers, was designed by architects Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker. Maine granite was used for the base, and the building is sheathed with Indiana limestone.
Macklowe Properties was founded in the mid-1960s by Harry Macklowe. For the past 40 years, the company has been an active and profitable developer, acquirer, redeveloper, owner, and manager of a diverse array of real estate investments. The company has successfully achieved a full level of vertical integration, combining design, planning, construction, management, accounting, and executive-level ownership and operation to provide for absolute responsibility and control over its assets. These investments, which have covered virtually every sector of the property market, have included the development, acquisition, and repositioning of office and apartment buildings, land assemblages, and conversion of industrial and loft properties. In the aggregate, these developments have totaled over 10 million square feet and have taken place in nearly every commercial and residential submarket of Manhattan.