RFR Holding announced Friday that it has sold 522 Fifth Ave., a property that had been in foreclosure proceedings. Amazon said it is the buyer. The price wasn’t disclosed.
Amazon is expected to occupy the entire 23-story, 600,000-square-foot building at the corner of West 44th Street. The property is five blocks north of the former Lord & Taylor building at 424 Fifth Ave. that Amazon acquired for $1 billion in 2020 to use as its New York headquarters. Last month Amazon agreed to lease 330,000 square feet at 452 Fifth Ave., a building that used to house HSBC.
An Amazon spokeswoman said: “We continuously evaluate our corporate office needs to best serve Amazon’s businesses, employees and customers.”
The sale of 522 Fifth is a coup for RFR because lenders filed to foreclose on the building last June after the developer failed to pay off the vacant property’s $224 million mortgage at maturity.
RFR acquired the office portion of the building in September 2020 from Morgan Stanley for $350 million, one of the few real estate transactions to close during that time, and a year later the firm bought the retail space. SL Green acquired the property’s defaulted mortgage last year for $134 million. A court filing dated yesterday said the foreclosure proceeding has been discontinued.
“This sale speaks not only to the enduring appeal of the building but to the strength of the Grand Central corridor,” RFR principal Aby Rosen said in a statement.
