39 Clarkson Street (Google Maps)
Days after Google shattered a pandemic purchase record in Manhattan’s Hudson Square, another deal has added to the neighborhood’s pricey office scene.
Vanquish LLC, a group of investors from the Middle East, bought a boutique office building from Penn South Capital at 39 Clarkson Street for $45.9 million. The all-cash deal for the six-story, 30,000-square-foot building closed two weeks ago, according to the Commercial Observer.
The office building has one tenant, mental health startup Talkiatry, which leased 5,800 square feet in the building at the beginning of the year. Penn South has since paused leasing for the building because the buyers wanted it to stay as vacant as possible.
The investment firm held onto the office building for fewer than two years. The company purchased the building – as well as two Lower East Side residential buildings – from LTN Capital in December 2019 for $27.2 million.
The former Kopper’s Chocolate factory then underwent an extensive renovation during the pandemic, with the firm spending $5 million to redo the facade, replace the roof, add lot line windows and shift the elevator core.
The completed renovations made the property attractive to investors, Penn South’s founder told the Commercial Observer. It also stands out for its relatively small size in the neighborhood, especially compared to the 1.3-million-square-foot behemoth Google is renovating at 550 Washington Street.
Whatever Vanquish LLC tries to do with the building, it will be joining some major players in the Hudson Square area. Google, for one, doesn’t appear to be going anywhere after shattering a pandemic record with its $2.1 billion purchase of St. John’s Terminal.
Disney also has designs on the area. The media giant has plans for a 19-story building at 4 Hudson Square spanning almost 1.3 million square feet. The headquarters are expected to house the company’s New York operations. The company acquired the site from Trinity Church for $650 million in 2018.
[CO] — Holden Walter-Warner
