China Life Insurance (Group) Co has acquired a Manhattan office tower at 1285 Sixth Avenue for $1.65 billion, domestic financial newspaper the 21st Century Business Herald reported on Monday.
The 39-story skyscraper is near Times Square and Central Park, and it's seen as an iconic building. The structure is fully occupied, with about half of the space rented by Swiss global financial services company UBS, according to media reports.
China Life has renewed the lease with UBS until 2032, a source familiar with the issue was quoted as saying in the report.
The Chinese are streaming into the US even as overall deal activity slows, The Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday.
In the first four months of 2016, their investment was $135.9 billion worth of commercial property, compared with $171.4 billion a year earlier, it said, citing New York-based data tracker Real Capital-Analytics.
A report published by the Asia Society and Rosen Consulting Group in March suggested that Chinese direct investment in US real estate has grown dramatically and visibly since 2010. Chinese investors acquired at least $17.1 billion of existing commercial properties between 2010 and 2015, representing an annual growth rate of 70 percent.
During the period, 70 percent of commercial real estate transactions by value were in New York, Los Angeles and the San Francisco metro area.
China Life made its first US investment along with Ping An Insurance Co in 2015 by purchasing a majority stake in a $500 million Boston development, according to The Wall Street Journal.
