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AFTER BEING IN business together for just five months, Charles R. Bendit and Paul E. Pariser have become the masters of almost 4 million square feet of coveted Manhattan office properties.
Taconic Investment Partners, the real estate investment firm they launched on Labor Day, has a de in escrow to acquire the long-term net operating lease of the Greeley Arcade, at 132 W. 31st St., from the Lemle family. The 424,000-square-foot, 1920s-vintage tower is one of the jewels of the emerging Penn Station district.
Taconic's coup follows hard on the heels of its Jan. 14 closing on the $387.5 million Sylvan Lawrence Co. portfolio. The 3.5 million-square-foot package includes 111 Eighth Ave., a 2.5 million-square-foot Chelsea Art Deco property. Also part of the deal are the downtown towers 100 William St. and 95 and 99 Wall St.
Partnership with Blackacre
Blackacre Capital Group, a New York-based private investment firm, is Taconic's joint venture partner in both deals.
The two acquisitions have established Taconic overnight as a player to be reckoned with in Manhattan. But Messrs. Bendit and Pariser are not finished. They plan to continue building the business by repositioning undervalued properties, either with capital improvements or, more subtly, with new services to make the buildings appeal to tenants willing to pay premium rents.
The partners are seeking more office purchases, primarily in New...