David Werner is buying a Hell’s Kitchen office building at a steep discount.
The prolific dealmaker is in contract to buy 311 West 43rd Street for slightly more than $40 million, sources told The Real Deal.
That’s about a third of the $131 million price tag that seller DivcoWest paid when it bought the building in 2018. And it’s the latest bargain for Werner, who’s been one of the most active buyers of discounted office buildings in recent years.
Representatives for Werner and Divco did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A CBRE team led by Doug Middleton and Ariel Aber brokered the deal.
The property is likely to be another residential conversion for Werner, who was one of the first investors during early work-from-home days to spot the opportunity to convert older buildings into apartments.
He’s working on a number of projects around the city including the biggest conversion planned to date: the 1,600-unit conversion of the former Pfizer headquarters in Midtown at 235 East 42nd Street.
At 193,000 square feet, 311 West 43rd Street is smaller than some of Werner’s recent buys. But with Werner, who’s known for flipping his investments to syndicates and coming up with creative deal structures, you can never rule out a surprising twist.
Last year, for example, he went into contract to buy the office building at 300 East 42nd Street for $52 million, then turned around and flipped the deal to Sal and Alberto Smeke’s CSC Real Estate. The developers plan to convert the building into 135 rental apartments.
San Francisco-based DivcoWest, headed by CEO Stuart Shiff, bought 311 West 43rd Street seven years ago from Billy Macklowe and Principal Real Estate Investors.
A large part of the building was leased to WeWork, which allegedly abandoned the location in 2023 before rejecting the lease in bankruptcy. Divco sued the co-working company for $30 million but then dropped the case. It’s not clear if Divco was ever able to backfill the space.
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