Airbnb buys Park Avenue South office for $81.5M

Airbnb has purchased 281 Park Avenue South, the landmarked Church Missions House in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park, from RFR for $81.5 million, turning the 19th-century building into one of the company’s largest employee hubs outside its San Francisco headquarters.

The 40,000-square-foot building, completed in 1894 for Episcopal missionary work, sits at the southeast corner of Park Avenue South and East 22nd Street. Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs’s RFR sold the property, which most recently housed the photography museum Fotografiska before it closed in 2024. Airbnb intends to occupy the building for its own offices rather than lease it out.

Why it matters. The purchase is a notable vote of confidence in New York office space from a tech tenant, at a time when many are still shedding square footage. It also lands amid an unusual backdrop: Airbnb has spent heavily fighting the city’s Local Law 18, which slashed legal short-term rentals from more than 60,000 to roughly 3,000, and is now buying real estate in the same market that curtailed its core business.

The numbers. The $81.5 million deal values the 40,000-square-foot building at more than $2,000 per square foot. Airbnb has spent roughly $1 million a year lobbying in the city since the rental law took effect in 2022.

What’s next. Airbnb will build out the company’s offices in the restored landmark, adding a marquee East Coast base. “New York City has been part of our story since the earliest days of Airbnb,” said CEO Brian Chesky, framing the purchase as a long-term commitment to the market.