NEW YORK CITY — Winthrop Realty Liquidating Trust has sold its stake in 701 Seventh Avenue, also known as 20 Times Square, to Maefield Development for $1.53 billion. Maefield was Winthrop’s former investment partner in the building currently under construction in Manhattan’s bustling Times Square district.
The 400,000-square-foot development will feature a 39-story tower with 120,000 square feet of retail, attraction and entertainment spaces. The project will also include a 452-room Marriott-Edition hotel tower and an 18,000-square-foot video screen, which will be the highest resolution screen in Times Square. Maefield will finish the development as sole owner.
To finance the buyout, a group of lenders led by French bank Natixis provided around $2 billion in financing and refinancing for the property, according to The Real Deal.
In 2012, a group of investors led by Maefield that included Winthrop acquired an existing 11-story office building at the location for $430 million. Mark Siffin, chairman of Maefield, first began assembling the site in 2010. The project’s long-term tenants already include the National Football League and Hershey’s.
In addition to Winthrop, Maefield also bought out the investment stake of Steve Witkoff, Ian Schrager and Howard Lorber’s New Valley investment company. The terms of that transaction were not disclosed.
Winthrop Realty Liquidating Trust was formed to continue the liquidation process of the remaining assets held by Winthrop Realty Trust after shareholders adopted a liquidation plan in 2014. Since then, the trust has disposed of 45 of its 51 assets.
— David Cohen