Sherwood Equities Sells Hudson Yards Parcels to Tishman-Speyer For $200 Million; Sites Were Acquired in Late '80s for $8.1 Million

NEW YORK, April 30, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Manhattan-based owner/developer Sherwood Equities has sold multiple Hudson Yards parcels to Tishman-Speyer for $200 million, reports Jeffrey Katz, Sherwood president. The sites, situated at the southeast corner of West 34th Street and Hudson Yards Boulevard, and at West 35th Street and Tenth Avenue, were acquired by Sherwood in the late 1980s for $8.1 million.  

The as-of-right sites will allow up to 960,000 square feet of floor area ratio (FAR).  Taking into account additional entitlements the buyer can purchase from the city, the total acquisition price for Sherwood's parcels equates to approximately $340 per FAR square foot.

The properties, sold as part of an assemblage with a neighboring property owned by the Rosenthal family, will enable Tishman-Speyer to develop a 2.25 million-square-foot, full-square-block office building, which could become the tallest structure in the United States. Currently, the Sherwood sites contain a four-story industrial building and two smaller mixed-use structures.

In September of last year, Sherwood, together with an investment partner, sold a vacant Hudson Yards parcel at 360 Tenth Avenue to a group headed by former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt for $167.3 million. The sales price was approximately $120 million more than Sherwood and its partner had paid for the land in 2011.  

Sherwood continues to be very active on the West Side of Manhattan.  The company is currently developing a high-end condominium project directly adjacent to the High Line, on a full block front, known as 500 West 21st Street, in West Chelsea, that it acquired in 2010.  Sherwood also recently completed construction on 508 West 20th Street, a boutique retail gallery building adjacent to the High Line that is being used as a sales center for 500W21.  In addition, Sherwood owns a substantial Hudson Yards property at West 36th Street and Tenth Avenue and intends to develop some 250,000 square feet of high-end residential tower.  The firm purchased the site in 1991 for approximately $800,000.

"We remain exceedingly bullish about Manhattan's West Side, and especially the future of Hudson Yards, but large-scale office development is not part of our core business," says Mr. Katz. "Today's sale, along with last summer's at 360 Tenth, were intended to harvest investments we made under favorable market conditions. In fact, we have realized more than $300 million in profits from property sales over the past seven months."

The Sherwood executive says his firm is currently in negotiation to acquire additional property on the West Side.

Sherwood Equities is a privately held real estate investment and development company established in 1952.  Long known for its contribution to the development of Times Square, Sherwood has become a major player in the High Line and Hudson Yards area, as well as other parts of Manhattan.  In addition to owning, developing or managing some of Manhattan's most prominent properties, such as 2 Times Square, 1 Times Square (where the ball falls on New Year's Eve) and 1600 Broadway, Sherwood is currently expanding its acquisition and development pipeline throughout the city.

SOURCE Sherwood Equities