W.Side package fetches $70m.

A joint venture partnership has sold four buildings on Manhattan's West Side for $70,900,000. Located in a district where manufacturing space is still prevalent, the buildings will likely be converted into commercial offices because their lofty sales price requires a more lucrative use for the buyer to profit.

"We were targeting groups that owned other buildings in the area, who understood this market, where it's 50% manufacturing space and 50% office, and would be able to capitalize on value, enhancing a retenanting," said Ken Zakin, who along with Randell Liberman and David Noonan of Newmark Knight Frank, represented the sellers in the transaction. "We wanted to leave the next owner in a position where it would be possible to upgrade, and as a result achieve higher rents. We think we found the perfect buyer."

"The properties were positioned for the next level, they were very low bases, and they were able to sell it at an attractive price."

The buildings were sold in two separate transactions by the seller, who had owned the properties in two separate ventures, 38 Realty Limited Partnership and 37th Street Realty Company.

Two of the commercial buildings, 252 West 37th Street and 256 West 38th Street, totaling 253,116 s/f, were sold for $56,000,000.

The other two, 39 West 38th Street and 43 West 38th Street, comprising approximately 71,000 s/f, traded for $14,900,000. The buyer has remained anonymous and made the purchases operating through limited liability corporations named 37th Sheva 7, LLC; 38th Chanukka 26th, LLC; Magen 26th, LLC; and Halascha 26th, LLC.

The added value that the buildings were able to command as office properties is further evidence of the willingness among landlords and real estate investors to stake money on a neighborhood whose makeover from a warren of gritty and antiquated manufacturing spaces into a thriving office district is ongoing but still far from complete. "We believe in the Westside transformation, the expansion of the Javits Center, the 7 train connecting to the Javits Center, and the move of Madison Square Garden to the Westside," said David Greene, of Murray Hill Properties, who represented the buyer in both transactions.

"That's all coming whether people believe it or not. With the limited supply of office space in midtown, it's only logical that there will be a migration South."