Vornado Realty Trust, through its affiliate Alexander’s Inc., this month refinanced the office building at 731 Lexington Avenue with $500 million in loans.
Commercial Property Executive reported that the debt will pay an existing $300 million mortgage and allow the real estate investment trust to pocket another $188 million. The interest-only loan will mature in 2024. The lenders on the new deal were undisclosed, but in 2014 Deutsche bank lent $300 million on the office portion, debt that was collateralized, according to Commercial Real Estate Direct.
Bloomberg LP is the building’s anchor tenant. It renewed its 188,680-square-foot lease in 2014.
Vornado [TRDataCustom] completed the 56-story tower in 2005, at the site of the former Alexander’s department store. Vornado’s chairman and CEO Steve Roth acquired the parcel through buying up Alexander’s stock in the 1980s, a tactic that was mimicked by Donald Trump, whose financial troubles eventually helped Roth tie the site down for himself, though the two had discussed a potential joint venture. The lot sat vacant and in a state of blight for many years, a ploy that Roth reportedly later said he did on purpose in order to get more financial incentives for development from the city government.
In 2015, Vornado refinanced the retail portion of the building with $350 million in a syndicated deal involving Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) and JPMorgan Chase. [Commercial Property Executive] — Will Parker
(To view more of Vornado Realty Trust’s financing transactions, click here)