JPMorgan looks to sell Plaza District office building for $550M

A decade ago, Avenue of the Americas Plaza was part of a Harry Macklowe portfolio that came apart at the seems in the financial crisis. Now, JPMorgan Asset Management is looking to part ways with the Plaza District office tower.

The bank’s asset management arm put the 23-story office building at 125 West 55th Street up for sale, sources familiar with the property told The Real Deal. JPMorgan Asset Management is expecting the late 1980s-era building to fetch around $550 million, or $900 per square foot.

A spokesperson for JPMorgan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The 575,000-square-foot building sits on West 55th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues in the Plaza District, where tenants usually pay top dollar to be in what some consider to be the most coveted office neighborhood in the city.

Tenants at the building include the Australian investment bank Macquarie Group and iHeartRadio.

A Cushman & Wakefield team of Adam Spies, Doug Harmon, Kevin Donner, Josh King, Marcella Fasulo and Adam Doneger is marketing the property. A representative for the team declined to comment.

JPMorgan Asset Management bought the building for $470 million from Boston Properties in 2013. Mort Zuckerman’s real estate investment trust had acquired it in 2008 from Macklowe as part of a $3.9 billion portfolio that included the General Motors Building.

The glass-and-steel tower is being marketed as a core-plus investment, which means a buyer would only have to make slight improvements to the building to bring it up to peak performance. After years of primarily targeting high-risk, high-reward investments like redevelopment projects, more investors started shifting late last year to lower-risk core and core-plus properties, according to data from Preqin.

Last year, JPMorgan’s asset management group sold its stake in the Financial District office building at 195 Broadway for $800 million. The same Cushman team brokered the deal.