Middle East Investors Buying Into New York

Amid booming economies in Israel and Dubai, investors from the Middle East are scooping up trophy buildings in New York City — a trend reminiscent of the 1980s, when Japanese buyers were purchasing high-profile properties such as Rockefeller Center.

In the mid-1980s, the rapid appreciation of the yen against the dollar spurred Japan's spending spree. Today, surplus capital — much of it earned in the high-tech, diamond, and oil sectors — is the driving force behind the growing New York real estate portfolios of Israel and the United Arab Emirates, a managing director of Real Capital Analytics, Daniel Fasulo, said. "While Manhattan might look expensive to players who have been here for a long time, it's relatively attractive on a risk-adjusted basis to those outside the United States," he said, citing the city's stable economy and the decline of the dollar against foreign currencies.

Two Israeli investment companies, Tao Tsuot and Financial Levers, this week paid $648.5 million for a 70% stake in the famed Lipstick Building on Third Avenue at 53rd Street. The Israeli firms agreed to spend an additional $164.5 million on a Madison Avenue office building.

The chairman of Tao Tsuot, Ilan Ben-Dov, told The New York Sun during a telephone interview that he and his business partner are looking to buy additional office towers in Midtown, as well as residential properties along the perimeter of Central Park. "It's our belief in the American economy, and the New York economy," he said. "We've been amazed to see what the past two mayors have done for the city, creating an atmosphere much better than it used to be. People want to be here."

While Tao Tsuot and Financial Levers may be looking to expand their real estate portfolios, Mr. Ben-Dov said they have already received two offers to flip the Lipstick Building "with a huge amount of profit," and would consider selling it if the right offer came along.

This week's sale of that building followed the purchase of three prominent New York City buildings earlier this year by Africa Israel Investments, the multibillion-dollar holding company of Israeli businessman Lev Leviev. In recent months, Africa Israel has purchased the former New York Times headquarters on West 43rd Street for $525 million and a portion of the Apthorp Apartments on the Upper West Side for $426 million. They also purchased the Clock Tower Building in Madison Square Park for $200 million.

The chief executive officer of Africa Israel Properties & Developments USA, Rotem Rosen, said that despite its multimillion-dollar price tags, New York real estate is "very undervalued" — priced significantly less than comparable properties in London, Moscow, and Paris. "We all know that New York is one of the strongest, dynamic cities in the world, so there's no reason it should be so much cheaper," he said. "We're intent on buying up more and more buildings in New York, and elsewhere in the U.S., as long as we find the right opportunities."

Mr. Rosen said Africa Israel's high-profile purchases would serve the company well. "When you buy trophies, you're buying something nobody could build today — and if they did, it would be much more expensive than what we paid," he said. "The cost of some of our acquisitions seems high, but I believe that the people analyzing these deals will come to see that they are actually great bargains."

Many of Africa Israel's early real estate acquisitions in New York were made with Leviev/Boymelgreen, a now-defunct partnership between Mr. Leviev and Brooklyn developer Shaya Boymelgreen.

Name-brand Manhattan hotels have also been popular with investors from the Middle East. In the past year, the investment company of Dubai's ruling family, Istithmar, purchased the W Hotel in Union Square for $285 million and a majority stake in the Mandarin Oriental at Columbus Circle for a reported $340 million. Prior to those purchases, Istithmar spent $300 million on the former Knickerbocker Hotel building in Times Square, and plans to convert it into a luxury hotel.

Istithmar is the parent company of the discount department store Loehmann's, and recently bid $825 million to acquire Barneys New York.

Another firm, the Dubai Investment Group paid $500 million to buy the Essex House on Central Park South, renaming it the Jumeirah Essex House in January 2006.

"A lot of Dubai's capital is coming from the run-up in oil prices in recent years," Mr. Fasulo of Real Capital Analytics said. "It has created surplus cash flow that needs to be placed in hard assets — and some of that allocation is going to real estate assets."

In addition, a building boom has also brought an influx of capital to Dubai.

Then there's the trophy of all trophy properties, the Plaza Hotel — purchased for $675 million by Elad Properties, the New York division of an Israeli development company. After a lengthy renovation, the Plaza is slated to reopen early next year as a hotel and condominium residence.

Elad Properties is also the developer of historic properties turned residences in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, Chelsea, and Madison Square Park neighborhoods.

Ofer Yardeni, the managing partner of Stonehenge Partners, a New York-based property management company, said Israeli investors have been working with their American counterparts to purchase city real estate for nearly two decades. In recent years, the number of investors has grown and so has the size, and profile of their acquisitions, Mr. Yardeni, who is Israeli, said.

"When you invest in Europe — no matter how much you buy — people look at you as a foreigner, and will never embrace you as part of the community," he said. "In New York City, you buy one building and, already, you're a local player. There's no such thing as a foreigner here. The brokers and the banks don't care if you're money's from Israel or Dubai. They embrace you as part of the investment community."