Hotel investor Richard Born has joined the investor group acquiring 600 Third Avenue, a 42-story Midtown East office building, from BlackRock in a $245 million transaction. Born participated through BD Blakely, an affiliate of BD Hotels, the firm he co-founded with Ira Drukier in 1986. The purchase was made by L&L; Infinite, a joint venture formed by former Silverstein Properties CEO Marty Burger and L&L; Holding CEO David Levinson. Affiliates of Richard Mack’s Mack Real Estate Group and BLDG were also part of the acquisition, according to a release. The deal matters because it converts a long-held institutional asset into a multi-sponsor ownership structure and brings a prominent hospitality investor into a Midtown East office play.
The mechanics of the transaction show a heavily financed acquisition. The new ownership group secured a $185 million acquisition loan from Bain Capital at closing, arranged by Newmark’s Jordan Roeschlaub alongside Bain. The property, built in 1970 and renovated in 2015, sits between East 39th and East 40th streets. BlackRock had held a 99.5 percent stake in the building for roughly the past 20 years, with L&L; Holding owning just 0.5 percent. BlackRock exited the deal to recycle capital, one source said. The sale was also arranged by a Newmark team consisting of Adam Spies, Adam Doneger, Josh King, Marcella Fasulo, Avery Silverstein and Doug Harmon. Bloomberg first reported the sale.
The building’s leasing profile provides context for the valuation. The property was 92 percent leased at the time of the deal, according to sources. Anchor tenants include L-3 Communications, which occupies close to 59,000 square feet, along with law firms Polsinelli PC and Aaronson Rappaport Feinstein & Deutsch. Aaronson Rappaport renewed a 42,764-square-foot lease for its headquarters on the entire fifth and sixth floors in February 2025. Polsinelli PC signed a 10-year deal in early 2023, extending its lease through 2036 while expanding its footprint by 13,129 square feet to 52,516 square feet. These commitments suggest stable near-term cash flow, though the dossier does not provide rent levels, lease expirations beyond Polsinelli’s 2036 term, or capital expenditure requirements.
The sale fits into a broader pattern of activity along the Third Avenue corridor. News of the 600 Third Avenue deal follows two other major transactions being marketed by Newmark. SL Green Realty is pricing 711 Third Avenue at approximately $160 million, while Fisher Brothers’ 605 Third Avenue is going up for sale for roughly $425 million, sources said. The clustering of these listings indicates that institutional owners are testing buyer demand for Midtown East office assets at different price points. The $245 million price for 600 Third Avenue sits between the two other reported valuations, though the buildings differ in size, age, and tenant mix, and the dossier does not provide square footage or per-square-foot pricing for any of the three properties.
The evidence base is limited to a single Commercial Observer article read in full. Several material details remain unknown: the equity split among L&L; Infinite, Born, Mack Real Estate Group, and BLDG; the loan-to-value ratio implied by the $185 million Bain Capital loan against the $245 million purchase price; the building’s total square footage; and the remaining lease term for L-3 Communications. L&L; Infinite and BlackRock did not immediately return requests for comment, according to the source. Future reporting should clarify whether the new ownership group plans additional capital improvements, how the Bain Capital financing is structured, and whether the corridor’s other listings achieve pricing consistent with the 600 Third Avenue sale.