As New York real estate prices have skyrocketed and foreign capital continues to flow into the sector, trophy office tower owners are increasingly offloading minority stakes as opposed to outright sales, and experts say the resulting joint ventures have a number of pitfalls to watch for, including control and tax issues and stipulations governing future sale.
Attorneys say a number of factors, some functions of market conditions and others based on tax structure, are causing more owners of Manhattan trophy properties to enter a joint venture with a new partner and sell, say, a 49 percent stake in the property.