[Hypothalamus]

Bible publisher to unload Columbus Circle HQ
Buyer could construct 300,000-square-foot residential condo on site
Julie Strickland March 25, 2014 05:15PM


Cushman’s Helen Hwang and 1865 Broadway

The American Bible Society has placed its 180,000-square-foot Columbus Circle headquarters on the market.

The 12-story property at 1865 Broadway at West 61st Street, where the group has based its operations for 48 years, is expected to fetch $300 million or more. ABS then plans to lease a replacement office space or purchase another building. With the nonprofit’s departure, the new owner could scrap the existing building and construct a 300,000-square-foot residential condominium tower in its place, using surplus development rights on the site, according to Crain’s.

“The 1865 Broadway property has served us well for nearly 50 years,” ABS chairman Pieter Dearolf said in a statement to Crain’s. “The decision to sell the property was made to unlock the value of the site to further the mission of the American Bible Society.”

The nonprofit tapped Cushman & Wakefield’s Helen Hwang, Nat Rockett and Steve Kohn to market the property, located one block from Central Park and within a stone’s throw of the Zeckendorfs’ luxurious 15 Central Park West.

A buyer could pay north of $1,000 for the property’s development rights alone, and retail space in the building’s base could tap into the area’s high commercial rental rates, according to Crain’s.

“When you see a high-end development site it has to have the right zoning and scale, the right height and footprint, it has to be on a corner and have a presence, and it has to be near marquee amenities like Central Park and the river,” Hwang told Crain’s. “This site checks all of those boxes.”