SL Green, Vornado Reportedly In Hunt To Buy Paramount Group

New York City’s biggest office owners have shown interest in taking over beleaguered publicly traded landlord Paramount Group.

The REIT, which owns 13M SF of commercial real estate, has been exploring a potential sale of the company or other “strategic alternatives” since May. That process has reached the second round of bids from potential buyers of the company, The Real Deal reported. 

The three largest New York City-based REITs — Vornado Realty Trust, SL Green Realty Corp. and Empire State Realty Trust — have placed bids, TRD reported, citing anonymous sources. Other bidders include Blackstone, Rithm Capital and a partnership of DivcoWest and Dubai-based Saray Capital. Saray acquired a 5% stake in Paramount Group in May.

Vornado and Rithm Capital declined to comment to Bisnow. The other bidders and Paramount Group didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Paramount Group owns 13 buildings between New York and San Francisco, and it refinanced 1301 Sixth Ave. earlier this month to the tune of $900M after the 1.7M SF, 45-story office tower signed tenants to reach 97% leased.

But the company has been on shaky ground for a few years, reporting a $38.6M net loss at the end of 2024. Its losses widened to start this year, reporting a $29.8M net loss for common stockholders in the first half of 2025, according to its second-quarter earnings report. Its buildings were 85.4% occupied at the end of June, down from 86.2% three months earlier.

Its stock price has been on the rise this year, gaining 40% in value to a $1.4B market capitalization. Its shares rose more than 4.5% Wednesday after TRD's story was published, according to Seeking Alpha.

But Paramount is facing scrutiny over payments made to CEO Albert Behler. The REIT revealed in March that it had made $4M of previously undisclosed payments to Behler and his wife for business interest and personal expenses during a three-year period, Crain’s New York Business first reported.

Wilbur Paes, who was chief operating officer, chief financial officer and treasurer, and Gage Johnson, who was senior vice president, general counsel and secretary, stepped down from their respective roles in May.

In July, the company disclosed that it was under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is looking into conflicts of interest and executive compensation disclosures, among other items.