DLA Piper advises ViacomCBS in sale of Black Rock building for US$760 million

DLA Piper represented ViacomCBS Inc. in the sale of the office building known as Black Rock for US$760 million to Harbor Group International, a privately owned real estate investment and management firm. The 38-floor office tower is located at 51 West 52nd Street in midtown Manhattan.

The transaction marks the first sale of the building, which was built to serve as the New York headquarters of CBS, since its construction in the mid-1960s. In connection with the transaction, ViacomCBS will lease back its currently occupied space in the building on a short-term basis.

“It was a pleasure to bring together our wide-ranging real estate capabilities, our transactional knowledge and our deep experience in the New York market to advise ViacomCBS on this landmark sale,” said Bruce Saber, the DLA Piper partner who led the firm’s deal team along with partner Chris Smith.

In addition to Saber and Smith (both of New York), the DLA Piper team representing ViacomCBS included partner Harriet Lipkin (Washington, DC) and associate Sam Grubner (New York).

With approximately 200 real estate lawyers in the US and 500 globally, DLA Piper's market-leading Real Estate practice offers a full range of real estate services, including acquisitions and sales, single asset, programmatic and operating company joint ventures, real estate fund formation, public and private REITs, financing, zoning and development, construction and design, leasing and restructuring and workouts. The firm executes hundreds of transactions every year, ranging from billon-dollar-plus transactions to the acquisition, financing, joint venture formation, leasing and sale of individual properties.