New tower planned atop Chelsea Market

Jamestown Properties is buying out its partners in the Chelsea Market for more than $225 million and planning to add a 300,000-square-foot tower atop the retail and office hotspot, which takes up the block between 10th and 11th avenues and 15th and 16th streets. According to the Wall Street Journal, the deal, with Angelo, Gordon & Co., Belvedere Capital and original Chelsea Market developer Irwin Cohen, values the property at around $800 million. Cohen paid less than $10 million for the former run-down industrial building in the early 1990s. Jamestown, which cashed out on its majority stake across the street when Google bought 111 Eighth Avenue for $1.9 billion last year, will begin the public review process for its new Chelsea Market addition in the spring. “It’s not a fully completed asset,” said Jamestown’s Michael Phillips, the managing director of the Georgia-based real estate firm. Currently, the property houses specialty food retailers like Amy’s Bread, Manhattan Fruit Exchange and Sarabeth’s, along with media tenants like the Food Network and Major League Baseball Advanced Media. [WSJ]