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Bill Ackman Looks to Sell NYC Office Tower for Big Profit

Bill Ackman Looks to Sell NYC Office Tower for Big Profit

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman and his partners are trying to sell an office building on the far west side of Manhattan where his hedge fund management firm is based. 

Ackman and co-owner the Georgetown Co. are seeking roughly $630 million for the 10-story building at 787 11th Ave., according to people familiar with the matter. In 2015, a group of partners bought the property in Hells Kitchen for $255.5 million from Ford Motor Co.

Bill Ackman Looks to Sell NYC Office Tower for Big Profit

A representative for Ackman declined to comment. Georgetown didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Pershing Square isn’t planning to relocate its offices, one of the people said. It moved there from a Plaza District tower overlooking Central Park. The property is being marketed by the real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield.

The building got an overhaul that cost more than $100 million after it was purchased by the Ackman partnership. Pershing’s offices are located in the two-story glass penthouse on the ninth and 10th floors of the building, which features a private terrace and tennis court. 

The site is fully leased and includes other tenants such as Ackman’s wife Neri Oxman’s laboratory, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and an auto dealership. 

The building hit the market at a time when offices are still largely empty across the city. As of Oct. 13, just 31% of workers were back at their desks across the New York metro region, according to security-data firm Kastle Systems. Leasing has rebounded from pandemic lows but supply remains high as companies re-evaluate their need for space. 

Prices for office deals have fallen by 16% since 2019, according to real estate firm Avison Young.

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