Sadly, some beautiful old buildings will be demolished and replaced by a retail/hotel/residential tower. Hopefully, the new tower will be tall and striking to compensate for the loss.
American Stock Exchange HQ sold for $65 million
Roland Li
3/1/2011
New York Stock Exchange sells two buildings after merger
The New York Stock Exchange has sold 18-22 Thames Street and 78-86 Trinity Place for a combined $65 million, according to city records.
The seller was listed as Amex Realty Borrower, LLC, a legacy affiliate of the American Stock Exchange, which merged in 2008 with the New York Stock Exchange, operated by NYSE Euronext.
A spokeswoman for NYSE Euronext confirmed the sale, and said it was part of the 2008 merger. She declined to comment further.
The buyers were listed as 87 Trinity Place LLC and 22 Thames Street LLC, represented by Steinhardt Management of 650 Madison Avenue. It is unclear whether Steinhardt is also the buyer. Steinhardt didn’t return requests for comment.
18-22 Thames Street, also known as 123 Greenwich Street, closed at $48 million. 78-86 Trinity Place closed for $17 million, according to city records.
The American Stock Exchange had been using the buildings for office space and a trading floor for decades. The trading floor has since been moved to the NYSE’s iconic building at 11 Wall Street.
In 2000, the New York City Industrial Development Agency, a branch of the city's Economic Development Corporation (EDC), was transferred ownership of the property for $0, leasing it back to American Stock Exchange.
Kyle Sklerov, a spokesman for EDC, said the arrangement was made to give land tax abatements to the exchange, and the benefits ended in 2009 after the merger.
“These deals are fairly common,” he said.
Cushman & Wakefield had been retained to market the two adjacent buildings in 2008. According to a New York Sun article from that year, the buildings had a total of 336,000 s/f of office space and had a redevelopment potential of up to 645,606 s/f, with an as-of-right plaza bonus. The building was considered by landmark designation in 2008, but has not been landmarked, a Landmarks Preservation Commission spokeswoman confirmed.
Stockholders of the old American Stock exchange are entitled "net proceeds" from the sale of the headquarters, according to a June 2008 letter written by Neal Wolkoff, chair of the American Stock Exchange, and Matthew Frank, chair of the Amex Membership Corporation
They wrote that Cushman had received bids from several potential buyers, but, they warned, "The New York City real estate market has experience some deterioration since the preliminary valuations were received and may experience more."
A little over three months later, Lehman Brothers would file for bankruptcy, throwing the stock exchange – and the fate of the building – into great uncertainty.
Although the markets have since recovered, the future of the stock exchange remains clouded. Last month, NYSE Euronext and German company Deutsche Börse Group confirmed rumors that they were in “advanced” talks to merge, giving control of an icon of American capitalism to a foreign entity.
Photo: 86 Liberty by Daniel Stout
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