$33m wins bidding battle for 83 Maiden Lane.

Downtown office buildings that aren't suited for residential conversion take heart! There are still plenty of buyers interested in you.

That seems to be the lesson of 83 Maiden Lane, the 13-story, 155,418 square foot office and retail building that was recently purchased for $33 million by the Association of Help for Retarded Children (AHRC) in a sale brokered by Eastern Consolidated.

"Because of its terrific condition, there was a tremendous amount of investor interest in this building even though its floor plates were too small for condominium conversion," noted Eastern Consolidated's Brian Ezratty, who together with colleague Scott Ellard represented the property's owner in the transaction. "Ultimately, the nonprofit out bid everyone else to acquire a signature lower Manhattan building for its new home."

Messers Ezratty and Ellard of Eastern Consolidated represented the owners of 83 Maiden Lane, a partnership of ING Capital and Murray Hill Properties, in the sale of its fee interest to AHRC, which was represented by Brian Gell and Gary Kamenentsky of CB Richard Ellis. 83 Maiden Lane is presently home to a host of prestigious office tenants including two prominent law firms--Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Millbank Tweed Hadley.

Its retail tenants include L'Orto, a fine Italian restaurant.

The building recently completed extensive capital improvements, including a new roof and new controllers and cabs for its five passenger elevators.

AHRC, a premier provider of services for children and adults with developmental disabilities, will relocate from its current headquarters at 200 Park Avenue, where it occupies approximately 70,000 square feet of space.