NEW YORK CITY — Savanna, a New York-based real estate private equity and asset management firm, has taken title to 100 Wall Street, a 29-story, 504,000-square-foot Class A office building in Manhattan’s Financial District.
In March 2011, an affiliate of Prudential had purchased the mezzanine loan — which was in default — and subsequently sold it to Savanna for $7.5 million. After acquiring the mezzanine loan, Savanna initiated a UCC foreclosure, which was completed in May 2011. Savanna then took 100 percent fee ownership and assumed the $117 million first mortgage loan.
“In the past 10 months, Savanna has acquired a number of terrific office buildings in Manhattan, including 386 Park Avenue South, 104 West 40th Street, 5 Hanover Square, 1375 Broadway and the debt secured by 80 Broad Street,” says Nicholas Bienstock, a co-managing partner of Savanna, which pursues real estate equity and debt asset invesetments throughout the Northeast, focusing on directly owning and operating properties in New York City and the Washington, D.C. metro area. “Most of these acquisitions involved the purchase of defaulted debt as an initial entry point into the deal, and 100 Wall Street is another example of Savanna stepping into the fee ownership of a strong asset by purchasing the underlying debt and securing the equity via a UCC foreclosure process.”
Savanna plans to launch a base building capital improvement plan, a pre-built suite program and a marketing campaign to reintroduce the building with new, recapitalized ownership to the brokerage and tenant community. Mitchell Konsker, Scott Cahaly, and Brian Reiver of Jones Lang LaSalle have been hired to lead the building’s marketing and leasing program.
“These improvements both improve the asset and demonstrate to the market that ownership is well capitalized and is in a position to invest in and improve the building,” says Chris Schlank, a co-managing partner of Savanna. “100 Wall Street is a very attractive choice for high quality downtown tenants or midtown tenants that are looking for a cost effective Class A alternative to mid-town’s escalating rents.”
The building is currently 77 percent occupied, and rents for Class A assets in this submarket currently run in the $30 to $40 range per square foot. Built out with 18,900-square-foot floor plates, spaces at the 100 Wall Street range from 1,900-square-foot office suites to a contiguous block of 37,800 square feet, offering opportunities for both full floor tenants and multi-tenant floors. Current tenants include law firm Harris Beach, the Bank of Taiwan and the New York Stock Exchange.
— Dan Marcec