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Real Estate Weekly - Diplomat Center office, retail condos sold for $48m

The remaining 127,657 s/f of unsold office and retail condominiums within the 174,133 s/f 19-story building at 820 Second Avenue, has just traded for $48 million. Only steps from the United Nations, the building aka Diplomat Centre, is home to a number of Permanent Missions as well as important UN government entities,

Eastern Consolidated's vice chairman and principal Brian Ezratty, together with Scott Ellard, director, financial services, exclusively represented the seller Joseph Neumann and Charles Herzka of Broadway Management Co., Inc and procured the purchaser, Philip Pilevsky of Philips International.

The sale consists of 70% of the office space and 100% of the building's retail space. The office space is leased to the Permanent Missions of Liberia, Nicaragua, Trinidad, Micronesia, Madagascar, and the Korean Democratic Republic, as well as tenants including the United Nations Population Fund and the United National Federal Credit Union. The new owner plans to sell off the condo units as the current tenants' leases expire. The commercial condos that have already been sold are owned by foreign agencies including the governments of Croatia, Nepal, Syria and Peru.

"This sale represents an excellent investment opportunity, at a time when the sales market in New York City is at an all-time high," noted Ezratty. "The 14 mostly full-floor units are now leased to government agencies paying an average of $32 per square foot, which is significantly below market."

"Moreover, the building is strategically located midway between Grand Central Terminal and the United Nations," added Mr. Ellard. "Plus, it is only a few blocks north of the proposed 9.2-acre development site at the Consolidated Edison property, a 4,000 mixed-use residential/office/medical research facility with planned abundant open public space for outdoor recreation along the East River."

Ed Kotite Esq. of Kotite and Kotite LLP acted for the buyer, while Wayne M. Lopkin Esq. represented the seller.