Korean investor buys Manhattan building

Seoul-based FG Asset Management, on behalf of the Korean Teachers’ Credit Union, has purchased a 49 percent stake in a Manhattan office property located at 51 Astor Place. The sellers of the building, which is valued at $600 million, were EJME and Rockwood Capital.

The sales price for the 49 percent interest in the 400,000-square-foot office was approximately $294 million, according to Real Capital Analytics. The 13-story office tower is 100 percent occupied. Major tenants include IBM Corp. and St. Johns University, and CVS occupies a portion of the 28,000 square feet of street retail space.

The purchase follows KTCU’s sale of a 268,565-square-foot office property in London for $244.6 million and its purchase of the Exchange Tower in London for $317 million.

The 51 Astor Place investment is not KTCU’s first in New York City. KTCU previously invested in Manhattan’s Socony-Mobil building in December 2014 in a venture with TIAA-CR