Airbnb buys landmarked Gramercy building for $81.5M
Photo by Beyond My Ken on Wikimedia
Airbnb plans to turn a New York City landmark into office space. The short-term rental company paid $81.5 million for the six-story limestone building at 281 Park Avenue South. Known as the Church Missions House, the property was built in the 1890s for the Episcopal Church and most recently housed the Swedish photography museum Fotografiska, which closed its doors in 2024.
As first reported by the Wall Street Journal, Airbnb plans to make the 42,500-square-foot building a hub for its roughly 600 employees in the New York area.
“New York City has been part of our story since the earliest days of Airbnb. This building reflects our long-term commitment to the city and will be home to one of our largest employee hubs outside of San Francisco,” Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky told WSJ in a statement.
“We’re excited to keep investing in the city and the people who make it extraordinary.”
Aby Rosen’s RFR purchased the building in 2014 for $50 million from the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies. Fotografiska signed a 15-year lease at the site in 2017 but closed in September 2024. The museum’s restaurant, Verōnika, and the intimate lobby cocktail bar, Chapel Bar, also closed.
James Nelson, Alexandra Marolda, Brent Glodowski, Lea Voytovich of Avison Young, and Ryan Serhant and Bernadette Brennan of SERHANT. represented RFR.
“Opportunities to acquire a Manhattan landmark of this significance are exceptionally rare. 281 Park Avenue South commanded serious attention from the moment it hit the market, and the level of interest reflected just how singular this property is,” Brennan said.
“We’re proud to have brought this sale across the finish line for such an extraordinary piece of the city’s architectural fabric.”
The property is the first New York City building owned by Airbnb, which currently leases office space in Lower Manhattan. The deal comes as the company continues to push officials to roll back a 2021 law that took effect in 2023, which effectively bans Airbnb in the city.
The Church Missions House was built between 1892 and 1894 as a headquarters for the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, an arm of the Episcopal Church. One of a block of organizations with similar missions, known as “Charity Row,” the building, designed by Robert W. Gibson and Edward J. Neville Stent, has a striking Flemish Renaissance Revival style and a limestone facade.
The city designated the building an individual landmark in 1979, citing its steel-framed construction and medieval sheathing as reminders of the “19th century’s commitment to technology and its appreciation for historical association.”
In addition to its architecture, the building is also associated with Anna Delvey, aka Anna Sorokin, the con artist and fake heiress who attempted to lease the space for the “Anna Delvey Foundation,” a private members’ club and art foundation. After her scams were discovered, Sorokin was indicted and convicted of fraud.
According to WSJ, Airbnb will keep its “work-from-anywhere” policy, but is “planning a major investment in its newly acquired building.”
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