The next owner of the Chrysler Building may prove to be a previous owner of the Manhattan landmark office tower.
Tishman Speyer is in advanced talks to acquire the property’s ground lease, Crain’s reported. For a deal to cross the finish line, the biggest issue that needs to be worked out is rent payments for Cooper Union, which owns the ground underneath the building. The ground rent is expected to hit $41 million in two years, according to the college’s financial statement.
It would be a return for Rob Speyer’s firm, which acquired the Chrysler Building in 1997 for $220 million. Over the next couple of decades, it gradually sold off its stake in the building over multiple transactions, including a 2008 sale that valued the building at $800 million. In 2019 the building, including Tishman Speyer’s last 10% stake, was sold to RFR and Signa Holding for $150 million.
But Cooper Union has been working with Savills for the better part of a year to find fresh ownership as RFR was kicked out and Signa went bankrupt.
Last January, a judge terminated RFR’s ground lease at the property, ejecting it from the skyscraper.
RFR had sued Cooper Union in September 2024 after the school moved to terminate the company’s ground lease. Cooper Union claimed the developer stopped paying rent several months earlier and racked up arrears to the tune of $21 million.
SL Green’s Marc Holliday expressed interest in acquiring the property several months ago, but his interest reportedly cooled since then. Savanna, a Midtown office owner that’s been making moves left and right, was also interested in the building.
Should Tishman lock in its return, it will have work to do to restore the Chrysler Building to its former glory. The tenant roster includes law firm Moses & Singer, Creative Artists Agency and architect Ted Moudis, but there have been complaints about elevator outages and mice. The vacancy rate of the 1-million-square-foot building is 14 percent, according to CoStar.
Tishman declined to comment to the publication.
— Holden Walter-Warner
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