Emmes buys Rockefeller Townhouses

Real Estate Weekly, April 18, 2001 by Elaine Misonzhnik

Apparently, anything that has the name Rockefeller attached to it is bound to turn into gold.

In a deal valued at $30 mil lion, Uni Property Realty, the real estate unit of Scandinavian based Uni Bank, has sold its former New York headquarters in the Rockefeller Townhouses at 13-15 W. 54th St., to Haut Brion Partners, a unit of Emmes & Co.

The property, which contains approximately 95,000 SF, consists of two adjacent townhouses at W. 54th St. and a 13-story luxury office building at W. 55th St., connected to the townhouses by a five-story atrium.

In the past, 13 W. 54th St. served as home to John D. Rockefeller, and 15 W. 54th St. was used as an office by New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. The latter eventually bought No. 15 and died there in 1979.

20 W.55th St., on the other hand, is a fairly new office building, which was developed in 1985 by the Feldman Brothers, and which is renowned for its Art Deco style and views of the Rockefeller Center.

According to Richard Baxter, executive managing director at Insignia/ESG, who along with Jodi Pulice and Greg Smith of JRT Realty, served as the exclusive selling agent for the buildings, Uni Property bought 13-15 W. 54th St. in 1984, renovated it and converted it to office use.

Up until last year, the company occupied about a third of the townhouses, with Aquavit restaurant, U.S. Trust of New York, and American Standard, Inc. leasing the rest of the space.

In the last months of 2000, however, Uni Bank was acquired by a larger Scandinavian bank and had to relocate all of its employees to W. 42nd St.

"The space came up to about 95,000 SF of what we call luxury boutique space," Baxter said. "The story was that Uni Bank was acquired by another bank and they wanted us to sell it, and we sold it with the Uni Bank's space delivered vacant."

"Haut Brion Partners recognized the opportunity to acquire one of Manhattan's finest boutique office properties. This property offers the finest location in the City, with the added amenities of a worldclass restaurant, the Museum of Modern Art, and the opportunity for enhanced returns through leaseup of the space vacated by Uni Bank," he said in an official statement.

"This was an excellent opportunity to buy a class 'A' office building in the Plaza District, with a significant amount of space," said S. Lawrence Davis, principal of Emmes Realty. "We have approximately 35,000 SF that were previously occupied by Uni Bank that are ready to be leased. Because of the location and because of the shortage of space in that district, we thought it was terrific for a re-leasing and a re-positioning. And, as you know, The Museum of Modern Art is doing a substantial expansion directly across the street, which we believe will only add value to the location."

Emmes Realty will serve as the management agent for the property, and Insignia/ESG will act as the leasing agent.