After a decade at sea, Extell’s Gary Barnett has his white whale.
Barnett spent the past 10 years securing the Fifth Avenue stretch between West 46th and West 47th Streets — and finally added the missing piece this week, a lot at 576 Fifth Avenue, the New York Post first reported.
The real estate exec paid $175 million for the latest addition — a hefty sum in his own estimation.
“We paid a stupid price but it gives us the whole block, which is amazing,” Barnett told the Post.
The lot’s previous owner, Korea-based Sae-A Trading Co., bought the property for $101 million in 2021.
The combined lots will be the site of a 33-story office tower that will host Manhattan’s first-ever Ikea superstore. Ingka Investments, Ikea’s largest franchiser, will own the 80,000-square-foot retail space and is partnering with Extell on the project, which stands to be over 1 million square feet.
“It’s the largest footprint available in midtown and maybe anywhere,” he told the Post.
The lot at 576 Fifth Avenue will provide yet another update to the constantly evolving project.
Barnett had initially filed plans for a 1,100-foot, 78-story supertall in 2021 but scrapped them for his latest office tower vision with a new filing last year. That filing did not include the northernmost lot of the Fifth Avenue block.
Barnett told the Post that he plans to submit new filings with the Department of Buildings that will include the KPF-designed tower, which he said will be tenant-ready in three years.
Extell borrowed $340 million from South Korea-based firm IGIS Asset Management last July to refinance the development.
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