Rosen & Fuchs pick up three buildings.

Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs of RFR Holdings are adding three buildings with 500,000 square feet to their portfolio bringing it to a total of 2 million square feet in New York City.

The new buildings, which just went into contract and will be closing over the next few months, are 275 Madison Avenue, 516 Fifth Avenue and 25 West 45th Street.

While the transactions were handled separately, the total sales price was about $70 million.

"While everyone was out skiing I bought some buildings," said a happy Rosen last week. He and his partner are German investors based in New York City.

CB Commercial broker Marc Freud, who was not involved in the transactions, says the buyers are active acquirers and "are topflight guys."

"The sales are a further indication that when dealing with good properties you will have numerous bidders. You are now seeing buyers re-trading deals because the leasing and buying markets are up. There is a dearth of product and you see more foreigners getting used to buying leaseholds."

The art deco 275 Madison was purchased through Peter Hauspurg of Eastern Consolidated from a group led by Victor Gerstein and Mendy Wolff for about $36 million. Other partners include David Werner and Jack Forgash.

They had taken over the ground lease on the nearly empty tower at the beginning of 1995 and worked to restore its beauty and increase the tenancies. They also restructured the ground lease to make it more attractive to option the buy-out.

"They are very smart guys and pleasant to deal with," said Rosen of the sellers. "They fully-leased the building."

The 1931-era building on the southeast corner of Madison and 40th Street was designed by Kenneth Francheim using a sleek, streamlined design that caused the building to be dubbed the "shadowless skyscraper."

Forty-four stories tall, a magnificent tower portion affords bird's eye views of the restored Bryant Park and its lunchtime and after-work crowds, among other landmarks.

The penthouse combines the top three floors into a single unit that was once the executive offices of Philip Morris International. "It's a beautiful penthouse and is now leased," said Rosen.

While a main lobby on 40th Street has fabulous star-like chandeliers, about 12 years ago a retail space was recaptured to create a Madison Avenue entrance. That new, small lobby was designed by Oppenheimer Brady & Vogelstein Architects and used rose-colored marble from the original French quarry to match the original lobby and many Art Deco details to seamlessly blend the spaces. The former investor group also added recessed lighting and restored the fixtures to brighten the area.

An empty former Chase comer bank space and some offices were also leased and rebuilt, and is now The Merchant's Bank of New York headquarters branch.

"Everything is happening in that area," said Rosen of his purchase. "Forty-Second Street is booming and we've been trying to buy something of that size and magnitude for a while."

The smaller 516 Fifth Avenue building was owned by a Japanese company, Akira Industries, that bought it for about $18 million in the 1980's.

Owner's rep Phil Dicker contacted Rosen and Fuchs and about five other prospective purchasers before selling it to the duo for around half of the initial price. The 60,000 square-footer is 85 percent leased, with more recent rents at about $28 to $32 a foot.

"It's a great location if you want to be in that neighborhood," said Rosen, who will try to turn it into an "A" building.

The nearby 25 West 45th Street was put on the block by Richard Baxter and Yoron Cohen of Insignia Capital Advisors for long-term ownership. The 16-story building had a projected NOI at $2.2 million, and sources say the Rosen-Fuchs team picked it up for $21.25 million, making it about the highest price for a side street office building around Grand Central since the 1980's.

At $130 a foot, the 165,000 square-foot property is scheduled to close in mid-February.

Baxter said the building generated a lot of interest and the contract now leaves behind "a few unhappy campers," including a couple of local REITs.

The buildings will also be managed in-house by a management company that Rosen and Fuchs created to handle its 2 million square feet of space.

Among their other properties are 345 Park Avenue South, 400 Park Avenue, Three West 57th Street, 636 Avenue of the Americas, 32 West 18th Street, a development site at 45th and Lexington Avenue, and others both in and out of town. They also own residential properties, including One West 89th Street, and in conjunction with Trevor Davis, a number of residential projects, including several that are in various development stages.

Another of their major office buildings is the former Girl Scout House at 830 Third, which is fully leased after changing the program from an office condominium "because the rents went into the mid-thirties," explained Rosen. "It was tightening on Third Avenue and the tenants could go there and get a good presence."