Ruben Companies bought the land beneath 1700 Broadway in Midtown – where it developed a 42-story, 650,000-square-foot office building in 1968 – from the Shubert Foundation for $280 million in an off-market transaction.
New York City-based Ruben built the tower through a ground lease it owned for the property. Ownership would have reverted back to the foundation when the ground lease expired in 2067.
It was not reported who brokered the deal, but Cushman & Wakefield did advise on the transaction, the New York Observer reported.
Ruben struck a similar deal in 2013 when it paid $210 million for the land under the 26-story office building at 600 Madison Avenue between East 57th and East 58th streets, where it had owned the ground lease since the 1970s.
Back in November, architecture firm Gensler took 119,000 square feet at the building, the second through sixth floors. [NYO] — Dusica Sue Malesevic