A Chinatown office building traded hands Monday in a deal that shows just how rough the office market reset has become. The six-story Canal Street property sold for about $40.5 million, leaving the seller with roughly a $21 million loss and serving as another reality check for older Manhattan office buildings.
Sale details
According to the New York Business Journal, 164–168 Canal Street sold for approximately $40.5 million to a group of four companies. That price is about $21 million below what the building last traded for in 2013, leaving the prior owner firmly in the red.
How the building was acquired
Back in 2013, ASB Real Estate Investments partnered with George Comfort & Sons to buy 164–168 Canal Street for about $61.9 million. At the time, The Real Deal reported that the property was marketed at roughly 49,950 square feet, with banks including Citibank and New York Life taking up a significant portion of the space.
Property data and valuation
Today, the building is trading at a far leaner valuation. Public records and current listings show a much lower value, with PropertyShark putting the assessor's market value near $32.1 million and detailing the property's sales history and tax profile. Commercial listings now peg the building at a smaller size than some earlier marketing material, with CommercialCafe listing it at about 39,224 square feet.
Where this fits in the market
The Canal Street sale lands in a market where buyers are still cautiously picking through older, non-trophy Manhattan office buildings while prices reset around leasing risk, potential conversions and softer valuations. The Real Deal has tracked a spike in office-to-residential conversions and stretches of slower deal activity, trends that continue to reshape how investors underwrite buildings like this one.
What the new ownership group decides to do next, whether they simply hold for income, target financial tenants or try a more ambitious reposition, will be an early test of how the market is currently valuing small, older Manhattan offices. For now, the Canal Street trade stands as one more data point showing that some legacy properties are still changing hands at meaningful discounts.
