SL Green Realty is considering selling the Art Deco “News Building” in Midtown, which could hit the market with an asking price in the area of $1 billion.
The Marc Holliday-led real estate investment trust recently took pitches from brokers to take out the 1.2 million-square-foot office tower at 220 East 42nd Street, sources told The Real Deal.
While it appears that SL Green has not yet awarded the assignment, sources said brokers offered pricing guidance north of $900 million and even as high as $1 billion.
A representative for SL Green declined to comment.
Teams from Cushman & Wakefield, CBRE, JLL and Newmark Knight Frank all made pitches, sources said.
Built in 1920 as the headquarters of the New York Daily News, the 476-foot-tall tower features a 10-story base with large floors that were built to house the newspaper’s printing presses. The building served as the model for the Daily Planet Building in the first two “Superman” movies, and features a 4,000-pound granite globe that spins in the building’s iconic lobby.
SL Green bought the 37-story tower a short walk from Grand Central Terminal between Second and Third Avenues for $265 million in 2003. Two years earlier, the company had purchased a preferred-equity stake in the property for $53.5 million from the Witkoff Group.
Office tenants include Omnicom Group, local television station WPIX and the United Nations.
The Visiting Nurse Service of New York in 2016 signed a 30-year deal to acquire a leasehold condominium interest in the property covering more than 300,000 square feet.
SL Green has been selling properties in recent years to fund its stock-buyback program. In November, the REIT increased the repurchase program by $500 million, bringing the total authorization to $2.5 billion.