The former office building at 250 Church — now called 101 Franklin and the home of a massive sidewalk bridge for the past five years — has been sold. I saw the news in the Commercial Observer, and a check with city records shows it sold in June for $96.5 million..

The 17-story office building was acquired by Columbia Property Trust in late 2019; the city’s Human Resources Administration and the Department of Social Services moved to Brooklyn. And ever since then it has had a sidewalk bridge along Church, which as we all know a total drag, while the plans toggled from residential conversion to boutique office. The late Rafael Viñoly did drawings for a new facade, which looked promising. But by last year, with construction obviously stalled, Columbia Property Trust was looking to sell.

The global private equity firm TPG (formerly Texas Pacific Group) acquired 101 Franklin, and the Commercial Observer says its a joint venture with Skylight Real Estate Partners and Cannon Hill Capital Partners.

The company has also acquired 222 Broadway, the block-long office building between Ann and Fulton, across from St. Paul’s Chapel. Jeff Gural’s GFP Real Estate, which owns several buildings downtown, is TPG’s joint venture partner for that building, the Commercial Observer said, which sold for $147 million in April, city records show. The plan there is also residential conversion.

More from the Commercial Observer: “While there have been doubts about whether office-to-residential conversions are worth the investment, there may be reason to believe in Tribeca’s potential. Condominiums just across the street from 101 Franklin sell for about $3,000 to $4,000 per square foot at 56 Leonard Street. Units there range between 1,000 and 2,200 square feet and are on the market for anywhere between $2.9 million and $4.8 million, respectively, according to listings on StreetEasy. Office-to-residential conversions have been on the rise with Gural recently reclaiming the Flatiron Building for that purpose.”