The John Anthony Group Inc

Real Estate Weekly, April 5, 2000

The John Anthony Group. Inc., announced it has arranged the sale of 85 John Street, a classic 175,000 square-foot office building in Manhattan's financial district. Previously known as the National Brand if Fire Underwriters building, the 14-story plus penthouse structure on the corner of John and Gold Streets includes 10,775 square feet of retail space. Because of its excellent location and the rare amenity of natural lighting on three sides of the building, the property received considerable attention from commercial operators and residential developers.

The sale was handled by Brian Reilly and associates of the John Anthony Group representing both seller and purchaser, in an all cash transaction of $21.5 million, or $123 per square-foot. The firm specializes in sales of income producing and development property in the New York City area.

John Polakowski, CEO said that the John Anthony Group has been extremely successful in marketing properties of this caliber through CD-Rom presentations, their expansive European customer base and savvy Internet exposure. "We have a number of spectacular deals currently in process where we've achieved unheard of prices," said Polakowski. "The John Anthony Group manages its assignments differently than its competitors, in that the whole company acts as a team to produce the best possible prices.

In fact, many of the larger brokerage companies contact us immediately to co-broke when they get listings of this caliber because of the positive results we are constantly producing."