NEW YORK CITY — SL Green Realty Corp. has closed on a $475 million loan for the refinancing of 1515 Broadway in New York City. SL Green and SITQ, its joint venture partner in the ownership of the iconic Times Square tower, de-leveraged the asset and replaced the previous $625 million mortgage that was due to mature in November 2010 with longer-term financing. The new mortgage carries a 5-year term and a floating interest rate. The lender is a syndicate led by The Bank of China that also included DekaBank and Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg. Rob Martin of CB Richard Ellis joined with Deutsche Bank's Commercial Real Estate Restructuring Advisory practice to advise SL Green in the transaction.
“Despite the many difficulties the Manhattan office market has experienced throughout the recent downturn, SL Green has actually strengthened its standing as New York City's leading landlord and has repeatedly demonstrated the value of its highly attractive, well leased and well occupied portfolio by refinancing several of its assets, including 100 Park Avenue, 420 Lexington Avenue, 625 Madison Avenue, 1551-1555 Broadway and now 1515 Broadway,” said Andrew Mathias, president of SL Green, in a statement.
SL Green and SITQ acquired the 53-story, 1.9 million-square-foot office tower in 2002. The joint venture commenced a $40 million capital improvement program in 2008 that is expected to be complete in the first quarter of this year. Later in 2008, Viacom, the anchor tenant of the building, renewed its lease for 1.3 million square feet of space that serves as the company's world headquarters. The building is also home to The Minskoff Theatre and AEG Live's Nokia Theatre.
— Coleman Wood