Igal Namdar built a multibillion-dollar property empire buying financially troubled shopping malls. Now he’s following a similar playbook with Manhattan offices, acquiring aging buildings as the city struggles to recover from historically high vacancies, Bloomberg News reported. Namdar and joint-venture partner Empire Capital Holdings paid $72 million this month for 830 Third Ave., a 13-floor tower built in 1958. The deal followed last September’s purchase of 345 Seventh Ave. — more than 90 years old, with 24 stories — for $107 million. For both buildings, the prices amounted to less than $500 a square foot. That’s far lower than the average for Manhattan offices of $896 a square foot, August data from MSCI Real Assets show. Values have fallen from a pre-pandemic peak of $1,000 a square foot in February 2019. “New York City’s hitting a rough patch now, but we believe long-term, people are not going to work at home,” Namdar said in an interview. “Once everything is settled and, hopefully, the economy gets better, you’re going to see a lot more companies come back and rent space.” A comeback may take time. In the second quarter, Manhattan office vacancies reached their highest level recorded in more than two decades, at 15.8%, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. The rate for Class-B offices, such as the buildings Namdar is targeting, was 17.1%.
