BXP sells 10.6% stake in 343 Madison Avenue to AVRS Partners

BXP closed the sale of a 10.6% equity interest in 343 Madison Avenue, its 46-story, 930,000-square-foot, roughly $2 billion office tower in Midtown Manhattan, to AVRS Partners, the investment firm founded in 2023 by Edmond Safra, Adnane Mousannif and Patrick de Picciotto. BXP did not disclose the sale price.

Why it matters

A sponsor bringing in a minority equity partner mid-construction, rather than a lender, is a different signal than the $1.2 billion construction loan BXP closed in July: it raises capital without adding leverage or diluting control. BXP retains full decision-making authority and keeps the development, property and leasing management fees. AVRS is not a new counterparty either. It already holds a stake alongside BXP in the General Motors Building at 767 Fifth Avenue, valued by BXP at $3.7 billion, making 343 Madison its second New York partnership with the same sponsor. For developers structuring their own capital stacks, the deal shows one route to equity financing for a trophy project already under construction: sell a minority slice to a partner you already have a track record with, after the debt is in place, rather than before.

The numbers

The stake is 10.6% of a project BXP has put at roughly $2 billion in total cost against 930,000 square feet, on top of the $1.2 billion construction loan (Wells Fargo-led) that closed in July, as reported in our prior coverage of that financing. Preleasing stands at about 56%, with Starr (275,000 square feet) and McDermott Will & Schulte (150,000 square feet) signed, up from roughly 50% at the loan’s close in July. Construction has reached the podium level in the New York market, with completion targeted for the third quarter of 2029. Neither company’s release states a sale price, and no verified figure for the 10.6% stake is public.

What’s next

BXP’s release says the company may sell additional minority interests in the project, which is an option it has stated, not a plan it has committed to. Edmond Safra, AVRS’s founding partner, said: “BXP has been a valued partner to my family for more than a decade.” Watch whether the signed letters of intent convert to leases, which BXP and Bisnow both say could push preleasing toward 70%, and whether BXP uses the same minority-stake structure on its other active developments once its debt financing is already in place.