Former state office building re-emerges as mixed-use property.

The well-known 370,000-square foot Arthur Levitt State Office building at 270 Broadway has been re-configured and will soon re-open as a mixed-use luxury residential condo-rental/office/retail property.

For years, the state-owned building, built in 1929, was home to the NYS Senate, the NYS Assembly, the Division of Human Rights, the Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped, as well as several other State agencies. State Senator Roy Goodman had has offices there, and aspiring real estate brokers used to take their real estate licensing examinations within the 28-story tower. In July of last year Insignia/ESG arranged the $33.36 million sealed bid sale of 270 Broadway to Hempstead-based Robert A. Levine (R.A.L. Companies/270 Broadway Associates LLC) in a complicated deal which took over 19 months to transact. It turned out to be the highest-valued property sale ever completed by the State of New York..

Fast forward to January 2001. The building's 100,000-square foot office component (floors 2-7), renamed 86 Chambers Street because it has it's own lobby entrance, is nearing completion. InsignialESG's, Bradley Gerla, Senior Managing Director and Mary Ann Tighe, Vice Chairman, are actively marketing office space there with target move-in dates set for early Spring. According to Gerla, rental rates at the Class-A re-designed office block are priced at $45 per square foot.

Pending approval of the offering plan from the New York State Attorney General's office, Stribling Wells & Gay will market the 250,000 square feet of residential space, namely the 39 luxury condominiums ranging in size from 1-5 bedrooms (prices to be announced) located on floors 16-28. The 48 rentals, situated in the building's mid section on floors 8-15, range in size from 1,0753,575 square feet. All are expected to be ready for occupancy December 2001.

There's retail space too, 9,500 square feet of it, which could accommodate one large user or several smaller ones.

And where have all the State agencies gone? Since they weren't on leases, the State has re-located them in various properties throughout Manhattan, taking care to put up a sign on the building re-directing users to the new locations. "The building was so well-known for housing state agencies for so many years, that management deemed it absolutely necessary to a fix the sign to assist consumers," said Ms. Tighe.