Forbes building to be sold?

Lois Weiss of the New York Post reports that Forbes is about to sell its lower Manhattan building for $55 million — less than half of what it wanted to sell the property for two years ago.

Weiss writes, “The price tag equals around $380 a square foot, a far cry from the $1,000 a foot target they had hoped to fetch two years ago for the squat, 144,000 square foot granite office building.

“Forbes Media in 2007 had hired Cushman & Wakefield to sell the West Village building at what was then the top of the market for $140 million. After that listing expired, a Spanish-based buyer walked away from a deposit on a $120 million deal.

“In the past year, the in-house marketer insisted on not getting a penny less than $80 million for the property, which would have come with an agreement for a three-year lease back at a rent of $3 million a year.

“The latest potential deal, according to sources familiar with the matter, involves the property selling for $55 million with a one-year lease back. However, the potential buyer, whose identity was not known at presstime, is now offering to flip the contract for another $2 million.”

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