Brookfield Properties is contemplating a sweeping makeover of 450 West 33rd Street, the large office tower it owns on the far West Side of Manhattan.

The revovation is being contempated as Brookfield, one of the city’s largest commercial landlords, plans to break ground on a $300 million platform over an adjacent site in order to prepare it for the development of what it is calling Manhattan West, a planned 5.4 million square foot office complex.

In a conversation with The Commercial Observer on Monday, Jerry Larkin, a senior leasing executive at Brookfield Properties and Bruce Mosler, an executive at Cushman & Wakefield who is handling the leasing assignment for Manhattan West, said 450 West 33rd Street would be renovated in order to connect it to its leasing strategy for the larger multi-billion dollar development next door.

Mr. Mosler said that Brookfield wants to give large tenants an option to lease space both in Manhattan West and 450 West 33rd Street in order to reduce their occupancy costs in doing a deal in the new development.

“A tenant could take a 40,000 square foot tower floor and then lease the rest of their space in 450 West 33rd Street and average down their costs,” Mr. Mosler said.

450 West 33rd Street’s rents, according to Mr. Larkin and Mr. Mosler, would likely be much less expensive than office space in Manhattan West, which would likely need rents at least in the $70s per square foot to make its development financially feasible. Neither Mr. Larkin nor Mr. Mosler said they could calculate what kind of a discount bifurcating between the two locations could offer tenants than if they committed to Manhattan West alone.

“We would just be speculating because we have no idea how much space a tenant is going to want to take and how they’re going to want to split their operations,” Mr. Mosler said.

By integrating 450 West 33rd Street into its leasing plans for Manhattan West, Brookfield would appear to be seeking a leg up over competing office development projects, including the nearby West Side rail yards. The Related Companies meanwhile is seeking an advantage of its own with that development, trying to woo Time Inc., a tenant at Related’s Time Warner Center, into a deal to move to the rail yards. Sources say Related would offer to buy Time Inc.’s space at Time Warner Center, allowing the company to transfer the proceeds from that sale through a tax-free 1031 exchange into a similar commercial condo interest in a large office development over the rail yards.

Jerry Larkin said that Brookfield was still debating what kind of work it will do on 450 West 33rd Street, but the renovation could include installing an all new glass facade on the building, what would be a striking makeover of the 1.7 million-square-foot property.

“We don’t know what we’re going to do just yet but it could include a new facade, a new lobby and an upgrade of other building systems,” Mr. Larkin said.

Daniel Geiger is reachable at dgeiger@observer.com

A 2-story retail property in Brooklyn Heights netted $12 million in a recent sale, it was announced Monday.

The 8,150-square-foot property on 172-174 Montague Street, which hosts a Hallmark Store and Eamonn’s Restaurant, was sold by a private investor who had recently relocated from Brooklyn to Arizona. The identity of the buyer, a developer, was not immediately disclosed.

Lynda Blumberg and David Davidson, both of Besen & Associates, handled the sale of the property.

The building is situated in the C5-2/DB zoning designation, which offers air rights of up to 60,000 square feet.

“He [the seller] has been trying to sell this for a very long time,” Ms. Blumberg told The Commercial Observer.

As the owner kept bringing the property on and off the market, he eventually found the perfect deal, which netted him $200 per buildable foot.

“The owner was very shrewd,” said Mr. Davidson, in a statement. “He resisted the temptation to sell his air rights on several occasions after receiving unsolicited offers.”

The Hallmark store was at one point co-owned by The Curwin family under the name of Robar LLC, according to the Brooklyn Eagle. The store was opened in 1991. In 2003, co-owner Barry Curwin killed himself with a handgun inside the Hallmark store. He was 37.

Daniel Edward Rosen is reachable at drosen@observer.com.