500 Fifth Ave. sold for $94.5 million.

An "immensely private" Mexican family has purchased 500 Fifth Avenue for $94.5 million, real estate executives say. The tab for the 59-story skyscraper, coming to $155,73 for each of its 606,813 square feet, is the highest paid so far this year.

"I'm especially gratified," said William Cohen, leasing agent on the property through mortgagees in possession and lenders. "I got the vote of confidence to assemble a sales team and got a record price per square foot from a principal that understood my value-added, and wanted to retain us going forward long-term."

The building, carried on city records as Salmon Tower after its former owner, Walter J. Salmon, was designed and completed in 1930 by Shreve Lamb & Harmon, a then new and prominent team of architects that was at the same time working on a neighboring project several blocks south on Fifth Avenue - the Empire State Building which was finished the following year.

At 59 stories, the tower is actually the fifth tallest in Midtown after the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, Met Life and 30 Rockefeller Center. The building anchors the 42nd Street portion of the famous shopping street with the Crown Building, at 57th Street, as its other bookend.

While it has no memorable apex, its classic wedding cake design allows light to flow to 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue below, while the tower design provides spectacular panorama of the restored Bryant Park and New York Public Library.

Floors range in size from the base of 24,000 square feet to the 2,800 square-foot penthouse.

"The top half of the building has unbelievable, unobstructed views," said James D. Kuhn, chairman of Newmark, who co-brokered the property with Goldman Sachs's Steve Feldman. Goldman Sachs was also willing to provide its own capital as financing to any purchaser.

"It gave the process tremendous credibility," said Kuhn of Goldman. "It's been a very good partnership and to be associated with them in any way is terrific."

As it turns out, the buyer, a client of BDO Seidman, was able to arrange for the purchase on its own.

There were several bidders in the same price range, added Kuhn, including locals, and the purchaser closed within 30 days of contract signing. "We wanted someone we were sure would close and where financing wasn't an issue," said Kuhn.

Prominent city sales brokers were pleased with the high price received and its benchmark for the current mark.

Warren M. Heller, senior director of Jones Lang Wootton's investment division, said the purchase pricing was on target with their projections. "It shows a continued and increasing interest among foreigners and an increased market depth, as more diverse buyers come in and participate in the New York market," said Heller of the sale.

Peter Hauspurg, chairman of Eastern Consolidated, agreed the sale is good news for the market in terms of pricing.

"There have been many sales in the Grand Central district," he said, "but this is the strongest price point yet that the recovering market has made. While it is certainly an internationally recognizable property, it is management intensive and the challenge for the purchaser is to keep it as leased as possible. There is always an ongoing renovation project because of its age. But you can't beat the views."

While there are about 170 tenants, including many professional offices, smoke shop retailer Nat Sherman is a recent addition to the prominent corner location and its famous clock. Also at the street level is a Swatch retail outlet. Most of the second floor is operated as a conference center by building management as an amenity for its tenants.

There is also a messenger center, which Andrew Udis, senior managing director of Newmark, says is "another service-oriented feature of the property."

One of the factors that helped the sale, Kuhn says, is the "whole dramatic 42nd Street turnaround."

The building has been managed and leased by Newmark, which inaugurated a pre-built small space program several years ago in mid-tower with great success. The top portion of the building commands rents in the $35 range, with mid-tower a little less, brokers say.

"I was hired by a mortgagee in possession, and ratified again by the original owners and then by the lender when it took over," Cohen recalled. "I was given an opportunity to add value, effectuated the leasing of over 550,000 square feet and brought it to 96 percent occupancy, which could be considered full occupancy for a building of this size."

The building had been purchased by Joseph Neumann in December of 1985 for $129 million from Salmon and was one of a number of properties he had under a large blanket mortgage. In 1993, 500 Fifth was transferred to lenders GE Capital Fuji Bank and Nissho Iwai.

According to Cushman & Wakefield, other recent high-ticket sales included Financial Square, a one million square-foot Downtown property was purchased in June, 1995 for $134 million or $134 per square foot. A group represented by Lehman Brothers purchased One Times Square at auction from Banc Nationale de Paris for $240 a square foot or $27.5 million in Nov. 95.