The San Francisco-based investor outbid private equity funds for the 155,000-square-foot property at 148 Lafayette Street, which Tishman Speyer acquired just 16 months earlier.
Shorenstein Properties agreed to buy a fully leased office building in SoHo from Tishman Speyer for around $135 million, according to The Real Deal. The 12-story property at 148 Lafayette Street contains 155,000 square feet at the corner of Lafayette and Howard streets.
Newmark's Adam Spies, Doug Harmon, Adam Doneger, Marcella Fasulo, Avery Silverstein and Joshua King represented the sale. Shorenstein outbid several institutional bidders, including private equity funds, for the building, according to a source with knowledge of the deal.
Tishman Speyer bought the building from Epic in May 2025 for $105.5 million, financed in part with a $68.3 million acquisition loan from Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies. The 2025 purchase was Tishman's first office acquisition in the United States since 2021 and its first Manhattan office buy since 2019, according to previous reporting in Commercial Observer.
Epic had paid $126.5 million for the building in 2012. Albert Schmool, managing director at Tishman Speyer, said in a statement last year at the time of the purchase that the property presented a compelling opportunity to capitalize on the strengthening New York City office leasing environment.
The building contains 141,359 square feet of office space, which is 100 percent leased to tenants including investment firm General Catalyst, artificial intelligence code review firm Graphite, coworking firm WeWork, cosmetics company Charlotte Tilbury, digital picture frame company Aura Frames and consulting firm Keystone. The property also has 13,454 square feet of retail on the ground and lower floors, fully leased to martial arts gym Five Points Academy and discount luxury retailer 260 Sample Sale.
Around 70 percent of the building's office portion has been leased to new tenants since January 2025. All but 12,315 square feet of the space is leased through the 2030s. Rent for the newer leases ranges from $70 to $120 per square foot.
The LEED Gold building was constructed in 1913, with renovations in 2007 and 2017, according to Tishman Speyer. In August, the firm placed the fee simple interest for 6 Grand Central, the former 666 Third Avenue, up for sale for around $450 million. In June, Tishman's debt platform purchased the $40 million mezzanine loan on One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, immediately following that 50-story office building's purchase by 601W Companies and David Werner Real Estate Investments.
The Deployment Angle
Family Office Real Estate Daily Desk · our analysis, not the source's
The 28 percent markup Tishman Speyer captured in 16 months argues for a merchant-build approach: acquire stabilized assets at discounts to replacement cost, lock in near-term lease rollover, then exit into institutional demand before refinancing risk arrives. Shorenstein's willingness to pay $135 million for a property Tishman bought at $105.5 million suggests that fully leased, boutique office buildings in Manhattan submarkets with strong tenant credit can still clear institutional bid-ask spreads.
The equity cheque is roughly $66.7 million if Shorenstein matches Tishman's original loan-to-value of around 65 percent. At office rents of $70 to $120 per square foot and 100 percent occupancy, the building generates approximately $12 million to $17 million in gross rent on 141,359 square feet of office space, plus retail income from 13,454 square feet. Underwrite to the lower bound and assume 40 percent operating margins, and the unleveraged yield is in the mid-3 percent range on the $135 million basis, which implies Shorenstein is pricing in rent growth or repositioning value.
The risk is lease rollover. All but 12,315 square feet is leased through the 2030s, which defers re-leasing risk but also limits mark-to-market upside until then. If the thesis is to replicate Tishman's flip, the exit window is narrow — probably 18 to 24 months — before refinancing costs and rollover uncertainty erode buyer appetite. A co-GP structure alongside Shorenstein would cap exposure to that timing risk and allow participation in any near-term sale without underwriting a full cycle.
Direct ownership makes sense only if the principal has conviction that SoHo office rents will move materially above $120 per square foot by 2030, or if the goal is to hold through the next lease cycle and capture repositioning spread. Platform capital into Shorenstein's broader office book would smooth single-asset risk but would tie capital to the firm's underwriting discipline across markets. AvoidLP commitments to commingled office funds that lack the boutique, high-occupancy profile this building represents — the merchant-build trade works only with short duration and tight credit.
