Tishman Speyer is in talks to buy a Midtown South office building for north of $100 million — a deal that would be the mega landlord’s first Manhattan office buy in recent years.
Tishman, led by CEO Rob Speyer, is in talks to buy the 150,000-square-foot building at 148 Lafayette Street in Soho for around $120 million, sources told The Real Deal. The venture capital firm General Catalyst, which has backed startups like Airbnb and Stripe, signed a lease at the building last month for more than 42,000 square feet.
Steven and Michael Elghanayan’s EPIC bought the property in 2012 for $126.5 million. A spokesperson for Tishman declined to comment and a representative for EPIC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A Newmark team led by Adam Spies and Adam Doneger has the listing.
A deal, which isn’t yet finalized, would mark a notable return to the Manhattan office market for one of the city’s biggest office owners. Tishman’s last office investment came in 2019, when it acquired a long-term lease on the Morgan North U.S. Post Office building near Hudson Yards.Â
The company has been busy developing the 2.8 million-square-foot Spiral office building near Hudson Yards, and has been buying offices in other markets such as London, Austin and Paris — while also diversifying into areas like industrial and multifamily.
But the Soho deal would add Tishman’s name to the list of investors who’ve recently jumped off the sidelines and back into a Manhattan office market that had gotten frothy for some of the biggest investors.
Blackstone, for instance, is negotiating to buy a stake in the 1.9 million-square-foot 1345 Sixth Avenue. SL Green in November announced a deal for the office condominium at 500 Park Avenue for $130 million. The firm previously bought 450 Park Avenue in 2022 for $445 million.Â
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