Germans pay $465m or 140 Broadway.

A German real estate fund has paid a whopping $465 million for 140 Broadway, giving a huge vote of confidence to the downtown market.

"The fact that someone is willing to make such a big investment in the future of Lower Manhattan is certainly good news for the area," said Frank Cento, managing director at Jones Lang LaSalle.

Cento, along with JLL New York president, Peter Riguardi, and managing director, Tom Bennville, represented the building's owners, Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund III, in the deal.

"We are hearing a lot of buzz about the sale because of the size of the commitment," added Cento. "It's a very big confidence boost for the market for a couple of reasons.

"It shows downtown is coming back very strongly. Two-and-a-half years after 9/11, we are seeing a lot of firms returning to downtown. As leasing agents for 2 World Financial Center, Jones Lang LaSalle did some big deals last year for firms returning from midtown relocation sites.

"Now, by evidence of the 140 Broadway sale, people want to invest in Lower Manhattan because they believe there are very good signs of resurgence."

Deutsche Immobilien Funds AG, or DiFA, has agreed to pay the near-record $465 million to buy the building from Morgan Stanely, which stands to make a whopping $274 million profit on the sale.

Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund III originally bought the 51-story building from Harry Helmsely in 1998.

At that time, the building's anchor tenant, Hong Kong Shanghai Bank, had moved out to reconsolidate its operations in midtown.

Morgan Stanely was able to secure a new anchor in the form of Brown Bros. Harriman Ltd., which took up nearly half of the 1.2 million s/f tower, virtually repositioning the entire property and acting as a magnet for other high-brow tenants.

The sale of the fully tenanted building last week ranked second to the record $610 million sale of 60 Wall Street in 2001.

Since 9/11, the downtown market has been jittery, although all signs seem now to be pointing to a steady recovery. Although 140 Broadway is among the first Class A office sales since the terrorist attacks, there have been numerous B & C transactions, both for office and residential use.

Jones Lang LaSalle alone has sold 100 Maiden Lane for residential redevelopment, 63 Wall Street also for residential and the office buildings at 44 Wall Street and 5 Hanover Square.