Praedium, Taconic sell 50 Broadway

Real Estate Weekly, Dec 15, 1999

The Praedium Group, a leading opportunistic investor, working in partnership with Taconic Investment Partners, has sold 50 Broadway for approximately $46 million. The announcement was made by Floyd Lattin, chief investment officer of the Praedium Group, and Charles R. Bendit, a principal at Taconic Investment Partners.

Built in 1927, 50 Broadway is a 37-story, 341,896 square-foot office property located in the heart of New York City's Financial District. The building, which was acquired by the Praedium Group and Taconic in 1997, is currently 90 percent occupied. The property is ideally located on lower Broadway, one block from the NYSE and within a few blocks of Battery Park, The World Trade Center and The World Financial Center.

According to Lattin, "This property provided us with a unique opportunity in Manhattan's thriving Downtown office market, as it underscores our strategy to acquire undervalued assets, then reposition, bundle, redevelop or re-market the properties for greater success.

Woody Heller, managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle, acted as the investment sales broker for the transaction.

"We substantially improved the quality of the building by changing the tenant base from financial services to high technology, e-commerce, non-profit and entertainment tenants," said Bendit. 'We also established a quality standard by upgrading common areas and building services. Our proactive approach to building operations helped to convert 50 Broadway into an institutional quality asset."

The Praedium Group, which works in cooperation with Credit Suisse First Boston, invests in real estate assets, real estate securities, and distressed and high yield mortgage loans throughout the U.S., Canada and Western Europe.

Taconic, which was formed in September 1997 by Charles Bendit and Paul Pariser, invests in and redevelops office properties in Washington D.C., Manhattan and other markets. The partnership currently owns six-million square feet of office space in Manhattan, Chicago and Washington.