Pension Fund Puts 590 Madison Up for Sale

An Ohio pension fund is putting a Manhattan building up for sale, a major test for the borough’s trophy office market.

The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio is marketing 590 Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, Bloomberg reported. The building is one of the market’s biggest trophy office assets to go up for sale since the onset of the pandemic five years ago.

The pension fund is pricing the 1-million-square-foot property at $1.1 billion, which would represent the city’s first billion-dollar investment sale in two years, should the owner achieve its pricing. Situated between East 56th and East 57th streets, the property became known as the IBM Building, though the namesake tenant has since relocated to 1 Madison Avenue.

An Eastdil Secured team of Roy March, Gary Phillips and Will Silverman are heading the marketing.

While IBM has departed, 590 Madison still holds appeal. In the fall, luxury brand conglomerate Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy leased 150,000 square feet across four office floors; the asking rent was $190 per square foot. LVMH may also take retail space at the building as Bonhams Auction House prepares to relocate to 40,000 square feet at 111 West 57th Street.

Edward J. Minskoff Equities, which manages 590 Madison, is revamping part of the property, turning IBM’s former client-facing space into an amenity suite for all of the tenants. Other tenants include private equity firm Reverence Capital Partners, financial services firm E.F. Hutton and private equity firm Crestview Partners, according to the Commercial Observer.

Minskoff and the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio purchased the property in 1994. In 2015, the pension fund bought the stake held by Minskoff, which continued building management.

While deals are popping up across Manhattan’s office market, the $1 billion threshold has proven elusive for sellers. There hasn’t been a ten-figure sale in the borough since 2022.

Last year’s high watermark across sectors came at the start of 2024, when Jeff Sutton and SL Green sold 717 Fifth Avenue to Kering for $963 million.

— Holden Walter-Warner