Extell pays $39M for American Jewish Committee building in Midtown East
165 East 56th Street (Credit - Cyclomedia)
Extell Development paid $39 million through the entity 165 East 56th Street LLC to the American Jewish Committee for 165 East 56th Street in Midtown East, Manhattan. The sale closed May 14, 2026, after the contract was signed December 11, 2025. The sale was recorded today, May 26, 2026. Gary Barnett signed for Extell Development.
At the same time, Extell borrowed $16.75 million to finance the purchase.
Crain’s New York reported in October 2025 that the property was being marketed by CBRE’s Daniel Kaplan, Doug Middleton as well as Justin Arzi. They were positioning it as a potential office-to-residential conversion opportunity, with luxury condominiums cited. The property could also qualify for the 467-m office conversion tax incentive or the 485-x affordable housing program if redeveloped as rental housing.
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The property
The office building in Midtown East has 59,400 square feet of built space and 14,850 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 74,250 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 75 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 7,425 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C6-6 which allows for up to 15 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $14.9 million.
Prior sales, articles and revenue
The 59,400-square-foot property generated revenue of $3.5 million or $58 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.
Development
For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on September 26, 2012.
Violations and lawsuits
According to city public data, the property has received $2,575 in OATH penalties in the last year.
There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.
The neighborhood
In Midtown East, The majority, or 81 percent of the 62.6 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 7 percent of the space. In sales, Midtown East has the highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $6.4 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Midtown East is the 4th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 18.8 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 30 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.
The block
On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 19 of the 33 commercial properties representing 510,456 square feet of the 1,767,140 square feet. The largest owner is Apple Hotel Reit, followed by Bldg Management and then City Of New York. On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 285,185 square feet. The largest is a 145-unit, 174,532 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Rony Attia with plans filed August 20, 2021 and permitted December 29, 2022. The second largest is a 151-unit, 110,653 square-foot institutional (I-2) building submitted by Hines and filed by Sarah Hawkins with plans filed March 2, 2017 and permitted June 5, 2018.
The surrounding
Within a 400-foot radius of 938 3 Avenue, PincusCo identified nine commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those nine items, one was for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. It was a permit application filed on March 16, 2026 for the $988,600 renovation of 85,604-square-foot 56 building with eight residential units at 136 East 57th Street. Of those nine items, two were sales above $5 million totaling $18.6 million. The most recent of the two was CSC Real Estate which bought the 102,917-square-foot, 34-unit office building (O4) on 695 Lexington Avenue for $10 million from Cerco Funding on March 6, 2026. Of those nine items, six were loans above $5 million totaling $252.6 million. The most recent of the six was CSC Real Estate in which borrowed $23.5 million from Genesis LLC secured by the 102,917-square-foot, 34-unit office building (O4) on 695 Lexington Avenue on March 6, 2026.
Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.