Upper West Side luxury rental tower Aire sells for $265M

The Upper West Side luxury rental apartment tower known as Aire was quietly sold to the well-established Gotham Organization and Carlyle Group, Realty Check has learned – affirming new energy in the investment-sale market for multifamily properties.

The 43-story, 310-unit building at 200 W. 67th St. behind Lincoln Center fetched a healthy $265 million in a hush-hush transaction last week. Industry sources said the deal  followed a robust bidding war.

The seller, A&R Kalimian Realty, faced expiration of roughly $200 million in mortgage loans and decided not to seek new financing. However, Aire did not go into actual default as was erroneously reported.

Gotham’s purchase includes a fully leased retail portion along Amsterdam Avenue. It marks a welcome boost to the market for sales of apartment buildings in the city, which saw volume fall to $9.7 billion in 2023 – a 52 percent drop from 2022, as reported by Ariel Property Advisors.

It’s believed that CBRE “Skyscraper Queen” Darcy Stacom and associate Alana Bassen brokered the Aire transaction. However, CBRE declined to confirm a sale and Stacom did not return calls and e-mails seeking comment.

The gleaming, glass-clad building boasts a tenants’ wellness center and a private, half-acre park. Its plight was closely watched ever since a $195.8 million loan from J. P. Morgan went to special servicing last summer.

Kalimian — a family partnership wracked by feuding among the heirs of founder Elias Kalimian — developed the tower and opened it in 2013. It was only about 70 percent rented in early 2020 but recovered to near-full status last year.

But Crain’s reported in January that rent income covered only 87 percent of the debt.

The purchase is something of a departure for Gotham, which usually develops its own buildings. They include Gotham West on Eleventh Avenue, which is home to award-winning food hall Gotham West Market. The company’s most recent projects include Gotham Point in Long Island City and The Suffolk on the Lower East Side.

Gotham declined to comment.