Sorrento Structuring to buy NY apartment block for over $80m

A US associate of Dublin-based Sorrento Asset Management is set to close a deal to acquire a 36-storey apartment block near the Empire State Building in New York some three years after the deal was originally struck.

Sorrento Structuring is believed to be paying more than $80 million (€53.81 million) to buy the high-rise building at 34th Street and Madison Avenue in downtown Manhattan.

The deal was due to close about a year ago but the global credit crunch and economic downturn led to delays with financing and a revaluation of the property.

About $65 million of the purchase price is being provided in debt sourced from a US bank.

The balance is equity provided by Sorrento and some of its clients.

Given the current economic backdrop, this is seen as a long-term investment for its backers.

Called S34, the building comprises one- and two-bed apartments that will be furnished and marketed on 30-day-plus lets to the corporate sector by a group called BridgeStreet, which is controlled by Sorrento.

S34 was built by Time Square Construction, a company owned by Kerry-born brothers Kevin and Donal O’Sullivan.

BridgeStreet has already taken charge of about 40 per cent of the property and has been letting out this space.

It is understood that a production crew involved in the making of the US version of the TV series The Apprenticerented apartments at S34 until recently.

Credit Suisse also occupies some space in the building.

Fortune 100 companies often rent apartments for staff working on projects in New York for extended periods. These apartments are often more cost-effective than hotel rooms.

Accounts just filed for Sorrento Asset Management Ltd show that it had a deficit in its shareholder funds of almost €2 million.

The company, led by chief executive Bryan Turley, earns management fees from its investments, which are all owned by separate legal entities.

Sorrento Asset Management’s directors are Mr Turley, Darina Heavey, John Ryan and Alan Hogan, who all worked for Anglo Irish Bank at some point in their careers.

Mr Turley left Anglo in 2004 to establish Sorrento.