Manhattan-based real estate investment company RFR Holdings has offloaded a prime Upper East Side building to an entity owned by Michael Bloomberg’s media, financial and data company for a whopping half-billion dollars, records show.
The 100,000-square-foot building at 980 Madison Ave. sold for $560 million to a limited liability company named after the address that’s affiliated with the former three-term mayor, according to a deed that appeared in the city register Thursday. PincusCo confirmed the sale to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg Philanthropies, the philanthropic arm of the former mayor, had been rumored since last year to have inked a deal with RFR to take over 85% of the Madison Avenue landmark between East 76th and East 77th streets.
The website Artnet reported in October that the building’s tenants — including longtime contemporary art gallery Gagosian — would need to relocate after Bloomberg Philanthropies signed a 30-year lease for 115,824 square feet of space at $185 per square foot.
At the time, the deal had been only “conditionally approved,” according to Artnet. As of Thursday, the Larry Gagosia-owned gallery, which hosts exhibitions all over the world, was still located in the building. A representative for the museum did not respond to a request for comment.
A source familiar with the covert deal identified an entity linked to the billionaire businessman, called Bloomberg Family Office, as the buyer of 980 Madison Ave., though neither RFR nor Bloomberg’s eponymous company would confirm this. Sheldon Werdiger, the head of marketing and design development for RFR, declined to comment, and a representative for Bloomberg LP also declined to comment.
David McCabe, the attorney representing the buyer and a partner at the Manhattan-based firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher — whose biography indicates he handles all aspects of real estate planning with an emphasis on “high-net-worth individuals and their families” — declined to comment.
Additional reporting by Eddie Small.
Julianne Cuba , 2024-06-06 22:56:10
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