More than three years after Hyundai Motor Group paid nearly $300M in cash for a newly built Tribeca building it intended to turn into an office and showroom, it has decided it would rather lease it out to other companies.
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The Korean automaker has brought in SL Green Realty Corp., Manhattan's largest office landlord, to manage 15 Laight St., the firms announced Tuesday.
Seoul-based Hyundai paid $273.5M for the 109K SF Tribeca office building in February 2023. SL Green is now assuming management of the asset after making an investment through its $1.3B debt fund.
“We are combining our credit capabilities with our leasing and operating expertise to create a seamless solution for a premier global partner and to create value in an exceptional building for prospective tenants,” SL Green President and Chief Investment Officer Harrison Sitomer said in a statement.
SL Green didn't provide additional information about its stake in the property. No records have yet been filed with the city register. Representatives for Hyundai didn't immediately respond to Bisnow’s request for comment.
The eight-story boutique office building was completed by the Vanbarton Group in 2021. The developer spent $90M in 2016 to acquire the site, which was once home to the Tribeca Film Festival. Craig Hatkoff, the festival’s co-founder, serves on SL Green’s board of directors.
Hyundai purchased the building all-cash at a price of roughly $2,500 per SF, a stunning price and transaction as the market was still recovering from the pandemic.
But the company never moved in. A March 17 filing with the New York City Department of Buildings noted that the building is “still 100% vacant.”
Hyundai Motor America’s headquarters is located in Fountain Valley, California. The company announced in August it would invest $26B into its U.S. operations by 2028, but those plans were almost immediately put in jeopardy following a federal immigration raid of its under-construction battery plant outside of Savannah, Georgia.
The Tribeca building is available for immediate occupancy, according to SL Green. Leasing will be overseen by SL Green Executive Vice President and Director of Leasing Steven Durels and CBRE Vice Chairman Ryan Alexander.
“Tribeca and Hudson Square are home to some of Manhattan’s most active creative, technology and media tenants, yet high-quality office supply remains meaningfully constrained,” Durels said in a statement. “We are bringing [15 Laight St.] to market at exactly the right moment.”
Tribeca's 5M SF of office space had a 15.7% vacancy rate at the end of the first quarter, below the citywide average of 22%, according to Cushman & Wakefield. There is no office space under construction in all of Lower Manhattan.
Doug Middleton, vice chairman with CBRE’s investment properties group, represented Hyundai in the transaction.
