Midtown office deal closes.

Real estate investor, Richard Parkoff, principal of the Parkoff Organization, has closed on Midtown office property, 110 East 55th.

Sold by whom the brokers on the deal would only reveal was a "nationally known investment bank" adamant that its identity not be revealed publicly, the 19-story 72,000 s/f building traded for $33.6 million, or a healthy $465 psf. Eastern Consolidated's Marcia Rose Yawitz led a team that brokered the transaction.

50% vacant, the building offers the new owner a chance to engage in some significant leasing at a time when Midtown rents have been begun to climb.

Having bought a portfolio of East Side residential buildings from Harry Macklowe almost two years ago for $179 million, Parkoff is better known as an owner of residential property. Unsurprisingly, he may be entertaining plans to convert a portion of 110 East 55th, most likely the tower space, to either residential condos or a hotel, Yawitz revealed.

Yawitz is also involved in the marketing of a development site on 8th Avenue, what is becoming a central vein of revitalization on the West Side. Located on 28th Street, the land allows up to 57,000 buildable square feet and could grab almost $400 psf in a sale that Yawitz expects will conclude early next year.

Fellow Eastern Consolidated investment sales broker, Brian Ezratty, is handling the sale of a parcel of land on 8th Avenue as well. Located on 54th Street, the site borders two adjacent development sites owned separately by the Hearst and the Wong family.

Potential buyers of the property would likely make it part of a larger play for ownership of all three parcels, an assemblage with enough combined air rights to allow a developer to build up to a 500,000 s/f office or residential building at the heart of a burgeoning corridor.

Helped by the fact that it would be pivotal in realizing such a development, the parcel could grab as much as $450 psf.