February 19, 2019
Building Housing “The Cutting Room” Sells for a Whopping $59M
When Bassett Properties took ownership of the historic 12-story building at 44 East 32nd Street in 1980, the sale price was $510,000. When Basset sold the property to Windsor Management Corp. in December 2018, the price was $59 million.
That’s an increase in value of more than 1100 percent in 38 years, for those of you doing the math. Not bad for a building first completed over a century ago.
Built in 1916, 44 East 32nd Street is currently home to such tenants as Urban Office and PRG Media Services. More famously, The Cutting Room—the music venue that has hosted up-and-comers like Sting, Sheryl Crow and Lady Gaga at its previous location on 24th Street—has occupied the ground floor since 2013.
The purchase of 44 East 32nd Street is just the latest indicator of skyrocketing property values in the NoMad neighborhood over the past several years. As of 2016, NoMad had already experienced an average increase in price per square foot of more than 43 percent over a five-year span. And, although Manhattan home prices actually saw a drop of two percent in the third quarter of 2018, NoMad is unlikely to see significant drops anytime soon with companies like Facebook, Zillow and Ritz-Carlton either committed to building or aggressively negotiating leases in the neighborhood.
Windsor Management Corp., the company who purchased 44 East 32nd Street, has expressed intentions to “add value to the building through strategic capital improvement and high-end tenants build-outs.” The Cutting Room is under lease and has no plans to vacate.