Amancio Ortega is set to make a splashy entry into the multifamily market when he signs a contract to purchase a rental skyscraper in the Financial District for close to $500 million.
The 64-story tower at 19 Dutch Street, with roughly 330,000 square feet, will be purchased by the Spanish businessman’s real estate company, Pontegadea, from Carmel Partners, according to sources. The transaction amounts to almost $1 million for each apartment in the 500-unit project.
For Ortega’s family business, which has acquired a magnificent portfolio of office and retail buildings, primarily in South Florida, it is the first significant multifamily acquisition.
A Carmel Partners representative declined to comment. Pontegadea’s representatives could not be reached.
The tower was erected in 2014 with design allusions to the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century by Carmel Partners, under the direction of Ron Zeff. The business listed the property for sale with Cushman & Wakefield in March, and they handled the deal’s brokering. The brokerage said that the building was 98 percent filled at that time and that the owners had made no concessions on new leases or lease extensions.
Pontegadea is being represented in the acquisition by Eastdil Secured.
According to Forbes, Ortega is the creator of the fast-fashion retailer Zara and head of the Inditex fashion company. Pontegadea, the family office that controls real estate and nearly 59 percent of Inditex, reported a net profit of 666 million euros in 2020, down from over 1.8 billion in 2019.
In Manhattan, there have been a number of apartment tower megadeals recently. In May, the median rent in the city reached $4,000 for the first time ever. The family of the late Sheldon Solow purchased a portfolio of six Upper East Side apartment buildings from Josh Gotlib’s Black Spruce Management last month for $1.75 billion.