Amazon paid $350 million to buy 522 Fifth Avenue from Aby Rosen’s RFR earlier this month, according to records filed with the city Friday.
The e-commerce giant acquired the retail condo and the office floors above in two separate transactions.
RFR had purchased the office portion from Morgan Stanley in 2020 for $350 million. Earlier this month, the firm closed on the purchase of the retail condo from Deka Immobilien for $85 million. That brings the company’s total investment in the property to $425 million, per property records.
A source familiar with the property said the records don’t reflect the entire purchase price, which is closer to $456 million. That figure couldn’t be independently verified.
A spokesperson for RFR declined to comment and a representative for Amazon could not be immediately reached.
For now, the deeds close a chapter on the much-followed story of 522 Fifth.
RFR bought the office portion of the building in 2020 and did a sale-leaseback with Morgan Stanley, which later decided to vacate its offices. Rosen and his partner, Michael Fuch,s had already considered plans to renovate the building and market it as a single-tenant headquarters.
Those plans hit a snag last year when the owners failed to pay off their $224 million loan at maturity and got hit with a foreclosure notice. SL Green ended up coming in and buying the debt at a steep discount of about $134 million.
In order to seal the Amazon deal, RFR purchased the retail portion on the ground floor and combined it with the offices. Deka Immobilen and Ashkenazy Acquisitions had paid $165 million for the retail in 2014, property records show.
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