By Nicholas G. Miller

Scholastic agreed to sell its New York City headquarters as it works to streamline its publishing business and monetize assets.

Empire State Realty Trust, which owns the Empire State Building, will pay $386 million for the Broadway address. Scholastic also agreed to sell its primary distribution facility in Jefferson City, Missouri to Fortress Investment Group for $95 million.

Scholastic said the property sales were part of its strategy to monetize its non-operating assets to improve the efficiency of its balance sheet. The company said it would use proceeds from the sales to reduce debt and repurchase shares.

The sales come after the publishing company shared major restructuring plans, which included efforts to free up cash by unloading certain pieces of property, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.

Scholastic, famous for classics including Harry Potter and Clifford the Big Red Dog, has been executing a turnaround plan intended to generate cash and find new revenue streams. Scholastic put its struggling Education Solutions business under strategic review earlier this year. The company also paid $182 million last year for animation studio 9 Story Media Group in an attempt to convert some of its books to screens.

The New York City building, called "The Scholastic Building," has 368,000 square feet of office space and 28,000 square feet of prime retail space and is 70% leased, according to Empire State Realty.

The transaction is expected to close this month.

After closing the transactions, Scholastic will enter long-term leases to continue operations at both locations, while substantially reducing its footprint at the New York City building.

Write to Nicholas G. Miller at nicholas.miller@wsj.com.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 02, 2025 09:13 ET (14:13 GMT)

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