Mercedes-Benz Pays $189.7 Million for New Manhattan Dealership

Mercedes-Benz USA has paid $189.7 million for 330,000+ square feet of retail and office space at 770 eleventh avenue, a deed recorded last week shows.

Rendering of the new Mercedes-Benz dealership | Spector Group via The NY Times

The space will host the German automaker’s new flagship dealership in Manhattan. It is the first and only company-owned dealership in the US and it is expected to set the standard for newly built Mercedes dealerships around the US, according to the architecture firm Spector Group.

NY Times reported earlier this year that the dealership will be part of a 900-unit residential development, called The Clinton Park.  According to the same source, the project’s developer, Tow Trees Management, has obtained financing ($90 million) only for the dealership, while the residential side will be completed as soon as the rental market rebounds and financing is made available.

The exact size of the commercial space is 339,413 square feet, according to the building’s condo declaration. That makes the price per square foot to be just shy of $560.

It’s the second German automaker to invest over $100 million in a new dealership on 11th Avenue in less than a year. In November 2009, Volkswagen Group of America announced a $125 million investment in a new Volkswagen/Audi dealership just two blocks north of the new Mercedes dealership, at 802 11th Avenue.

Volkswagen paid $84.35 million for a 228,000* square-feet building, or $370 per square foot.  Volkswagen intends to invest another $41 million in renovating the building, according to a press release by CB Richard Ellis, the company who brokered the deal.

* Note: Both Volkswagen and CB Richard Ellis announced the new showroom as having 265,000 square feet. Our records show the building to have 228,000 square feet.