J. C. Penney Co. agreed to sell...

J. C. Penney Co. agreed to sell its 45-story office building in mid-town Manhattan to a partnership of U.S. real estate companies for about $350 million. Penney, the nation’s third-largest retailer, which has moved much of its operations to Dallas from New York in the past year, said it will sell the building to a partnership consisting of Tishman Speyer Properties and Trammell Crow Co. The company said it expects the sale to give it an after-tax gain of about $150 million. The deal is expected to be completed in early August. Penney purchased the building in 1977 for $55 million.