Airbnb acquired the six-story landmarked Church Missions House in Gramercy Park for $81.5 million — a 63-percent premium over 2014 prices — while continuing to fund political campaigns against NYC's short-term rental registration law.

Airbnb paid $81.5 million Thursday for its first New York City office building — a six-story, 42,500-square-foot property at 281 Park Avenue South in Gramercy Park, Manhattan — even as the company presses its fight against the city's short-term rental regulations.

The Wall Street Journal, which first identified Airbnb as the buyer, reported the deal Thursday. City DOB records list the prior owner of record as 281 PAS OWNER LP; the landmarked Beaux-Arts structure, originally known as the Church Missions House, was built in 1894 and renovated in 2019. City housing records show no open HPD complaints and no class-C violations at the address.

The purchase lands roughly three years into Airbnb's sustained campaign against Local Law 18, the 2023 short-term rental registration requirement that the city says is necessary to protect housing supply and prevent apartments from operating as unlicensed hotels — and that drove a roughly 88 percent drop in short-term listings citywide. Airbnb has directed $10 million into its Affordable New York PAC, which spent $1 million on ads accusing mayoral candidates of ignoring affordability solutions. CEO Brian Chesky called the Gramercy building a sign of the company's "long-term commitment to the city" in a statement to the Journal.

Analytics firm MSCI put the price at roughly 63 percent above what the seller paid in 2014 — a premium that stands out in a Manhattan office market where many properties have lost value over the same period. Airbnb employs more than 600 people in the New York region and said office attendance will remain optional.