Extell Buys Two Manhattan Development Sites for $39 Million

Extell Development Co., one of the most active builders in Manhattan, has purchased two development sites for a combined $39 million, according to city records.

The properties are two parking facilities at 135 E. 47th St. and 332 W. 44th St. Central Parking Corp., the Nashville, Tenn.-based parking operator, was the seller of both buildings.

A spokesman for Extell had no immediate comment, and officials from Central Parking didn't immediately return a request for comment.

Extell's plans aren't clear, but it could demolish the existing buildings and build larger structures at both locations.

According to PropertyShark, 131 E. 47th is 55,940 square feet and 11 stories. The site's air rights allow for 66,264 square feet to be built, with the zoning district allowing mixed-use buildings with residential housing.

The other building, 332 W. 44th, is a four-story parking garage of 44,564 square feet. The site could be nearly tripled to 119,286 square feet, according to PropertyShark, but only commercial uses are permitted in the area.

According to the Real Deal, the parcel was part of a larger portfolio marketed in 2007 by Richard Baxter, a broker formerly of Cushman & Wakefield and now at Jones Lang LaSalle, but it isn't clear if he brokered the recent deal.

Last year, the city approved Central Parking's request to expand the number of parking spaces at 332 W. 44th to 350, but under the condition that the company improve various aspects of the streetscape, which the local community board later alleged it was not doing.

That property is about two blocks west of Extell's Park Hyatt hotel at 135 W. 45th St., which is under construction. Extell is also building the International Gem Tower, a new office building in the Diamond District, as well as One57, which is planned to be the tallest residential building in the country, and has approval for a massive mixed-use complex known as Riverside Center.