It's Official: N.Y. Landmark Sold

July 10, 2008 — -- An investment fund based in the United Arab Emirates has reportedly purchased a majority stake in New York's historic Chrysler Building.

Theresa Miller, a spokeswoman for Prudential Real Estate Investors, told ABC News that the company closed on the sale of its 75 percent stake in the landmark building Tuesday.

According to published reports, the stake was sold to the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, a sovereign wealth fund, for $800 million, but Miller would not confirm the buyer or the price. The sale had been rumored for at least a month.

"When we sell a property, our view that the story is really up to the buyer to tell," Miller said.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Council could not immediately be reached for comment.

Miller did say that investors in the Prudential-managed fund that held the Chrysler building would see a 20 percent annual return thanks to the building's sale.

It's the second time in the last two months that news has broken of a foreign buyer investing big time in a prominent New York address. Time magazine reported in June that Sorgente Group, the company led by Italian real estate investor Valter Mainetti, had acquired a majority share of Manhattan's famed Flatiron Building, a historic structure known for its triangular shape.

Foreign buyers "love to come to New York," said Anne Marie Moriarty, a vice president at Corcoran Reality. Moriarty, who deals in residential New York real estate, said her business from European buyers has doubled since January 2007.

With the weak U.S. dollar, American real estate can be a bargain for overseas shoppers, and New York, she said, proves especially attractive.

"When you think about it, New York really is not that large," Moriarty said. "There's not that much inventory, so I think they feel it's a very solid investment."

According to Dan Fasulo, managing director of Real Capital Analytics, New York last year was the most popular U.S. city for foreign buyers of commercial real estate. Twenty percent of the U.S. commercial real estate bought by foreign buyers, he said, was in New York.