A slice of the Times Square Bow-Tie is being sold to SL Green Realty Corp. and retail deal maestro Jeff Sutton for roughly $135 million. A contract for the building was signed last week and the deal should close by summer.
Sources told The Post that the joint-venture partners are buying the 15,000-square-foot building at 1552 Broadway on the northeast corner of 46th Street from the Riese Organization, which currently operates TGI Friday’s. That restaurant will likely be shuttered. “It will be a use that no one has thought of,” said a real estate source familiar with the parties and their plans, who asked to remain anonymous.
While the historic, four-story I. Miller Shoe Building is landmarked to preserve statues of actresses Ethel Barrymore, Marilyn Miller, Mary Pickford and Rosa Ponsella in niches on the second floor, some air rights could come into play in this deal.
As The Post first reported in mid-March, the building is being marketed by the Jones Lang LaSalle Capital Markets team of Jon Caplan, Richard Baxter, Ron Cohen and Scott Latham. JLL and SL Green declined comment and Sutton did not return calls or e-mails.
In addition to constructing a taller building, potential buyers can also upgrade two billboards above the building to LED, and approvals for a third sign are in place. The signage can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars per month.
In Times Square, SLG and Sutton are also partners in the American Eagle location, which earlier estimates had bringing in about $20 million a year in rent, and at 1604 Broadway, where signage and a
Sbarro’s bring in rent. However, the former Spotlight New York space remains vacant.
SLG also owns the Viacom headquarters tower at 1515 Broadway and last week bought out its investment partner, SITQ, for $260 million, revaluing the building at $1.21 billion. CEO Marc Holliday earned $12 million last year from the real estate investment trust and could obtain another $12 million in stock over the next two years.
