Rithm, DRA close joint venture at 1301 Avenue of the Americas

Rithm Capital Corp. and a fund managed by DRA Advisors have closed a joint venture that gives them ownership of 1301 Avenue of the Americas, a Midtown Manhattan office tower, IREI reported. Rithm, through its Elecor Properties operating platform, retains majority ownership and continues to run the building for the venture.

DRA's fund holds 49% of the property, as Private Real Estate Daily previously reported. The IREI report does not give a price for the stake. Jonny Nierenberg, a vice president at Rithm, said the partnership shows "there is capital for high-quality class A assets like 1301 that check every box in today's market." He listed credit tenants, a long weighted average lease term, The Aurelian amenity and a prime Midtown location as those boxes, and said the investment reflects DRA's confidence in Elecor's hands-on asset and property management.

For allocators, this is a minority position in one Midtown tower while the operator retains control, and the IREI report gives no price to benchmark the 49% stake against. The terms that would frame a comparison with other New York office allocations, governance and leasing authority, sit in the joint-venture agreement, which the report does not describe.

Leasing reached 25.7 million square feet through the third quarter of 2026, up 2.3% from the same period a year earlier, according to JLL data cited by IREI. Total vacancy fell to 12.6% from 14.7%, year-to-date net absorption approached 4.9 million square feet, and direct asking rents rose to $84.56 a square foot.