Rudin Looks to Sell Renovated Financial District Office

After spending $100 million to upgrade the office tower at 80 Pine Street but still struggling to find tenants, Rudin Management is looking for a buyer.

Rudin retained Eastdil Secured to market the 1.2-million-square-foot office property in Manhattan’s Financial District, Bisnow reported. News of its availability first came from Green Street’s Real Estate Alert, which suggested bids could come in at around $167 per square foot, or $200 million.

Leasing momentum appeared to be building at 80 Pine when nonprofit Vibrant Emotional Health took 60,000 square feet in February, with the annual asking rent in the mid-$50s per square foot.

But overall the building has not recovered since AIG’s late 2021 departure, which left an 800,000-square-foot void. Some 700,000 square feet is available for lease at the 40-story property, which takes up a full city block.

Tenants besides Vibrant include the National Urban League and the New York Property Insurance Underwriting Association. Existing leases have roughly a dozen years and $200 million in rent payments remaining.

An incoming owner can try to parlay the building’s upgrades into new deals and higher rents. Bank of America provided a $100 million financing package to Rudin in 2021 to fund the renovations, which included touch free-access points and an amenity center in the middle of the building with a conference facility, dining hall and terrace.

In a statement to Bisnow, a Rudin spokesperson said the company was “constantly exploring and evaluating options for our entire portfolio,” while adding it was “pleased by the market’s tremendous interest in 80 Pine.”

But it’s no secret that office leasing in Manhattan has been difficult since about 50 years of a gradual shift to remote work was condensed into just two by the pandemic.

Rudin offloaded another office property over the summer, selling 55 Broad Street to Silverstein Properties and Metro Loft Management for $172.5 million. The developers plan to convert the 410,000-square-foot property into 571 market-rate apartments, one of the largest office-to-residential plans in city history.

Rudin is retaining a stake in the project.

— Holden Walter-Warner