AIG Sells N.Y. HQ Highrise, Other Properties

American International Group has reached an agreement to sell its 66-story Manhattan headquarters tower and another nearby skyscraper, a source said.

At the same time a real estate fund announced the sale of another AIG building covering 235,000-square-feet located in Ridgefield Park, N.J. No price was announced for any of the sales.

David Monfried an AIG spokesman would not comment on the sale.

The buyer was rumored to be from outside the U.S. and the price in the vicinity of $100 million.

Closing of the sale of the 70 Pine Street headquarters and 72 Wall Street office is expected at the end of the summer. The company is at work on plans to move its employees into buildings it owns at 180 Maiden Lane and 175 Water Street, it was learned. All of the buildings are located in lower Manhattan.

Under the prospective sale agreement, AIG will have the right to occupy 72 Wall St. until the end of 2009, and 70 Pine St. until the end of 2010. The two buildings had been up for sale for six months.

AIG, since it began selling properties and businesses to pay back billions in taxpayer bailout monies, has announced between $5 billion and $6 billion in deals. The transactions have involved companies and real estate throughout the world, including Argentina, Japan and the United Kingdom.

The company has also given the government a 79.9 percent interest in the company in exchange for lines of credit and Troubled Asset Relief Program money. AIG first began securing government aid in September 2008.

The announcement of the New Jersey property sale at 85 Challenger Road was made by KABR Real Estate Investment Partners, LLC. The vacant building was formerly occupied by AIG Assurance.

KABR--a newly formed fund that includes Kenneth Pasternak, former chief executive officer of Knight Trading--said its purchase was brokered by Cushman & Wakefield's Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group

Mr. Pasternak said the purchase is "a terrific Class A office building that came onto the market at the right time for the right price."

The building is located at the junction of Route 46, I-80 and the New Jersey Turnpike, and KABR said it has a historic occupancy rate of more than 90 percent.

"We've already received a number of tenant inquiries because they know we can provide a better space in a better location at a better value," said Laurence Rappaport, KABR managing partner. "That's exactly what shareholders and CEOs are looking for in this environment."

"AIG made the right decision to return this building to the developer market following its foreclosure," said Cushman & Wakefield's Andrew Merin.

Mr. Merin said his firm received 17 bids on the offering, "which generated a highly competitive process, particularly considering the current investment climate."