NEW YORK CITY-The Moinian Group’s repositioning of the former Newsweek building at 1775 Broadway, threatened with foreclosure, has found a white knight in the form of SL Green Realty Corp. The developer and the REIT announced late Monday that they had formed a joint venture to recapitalize the Midtown office property near Central Park, which Moinian is redeveloping as 3 Columbus Circle.

According to a release, SL Green will make funds available for paying off the $274.7-million mortgage and completing the repositioning and lease-up of the property, now largely vacant. Moinian will direct the completion of 3 Columbus Circle’s $175-million redevelopment, which includes recladding the 83-year-old, 768,565-square-foot tower with a glass exterior. Citing an unnamed source, Bloomberg reported that the deal calls for Moinian to cede 49% control of the property to SL Green.

In a statement, SL Green CEO Marc Holliday says his company has worked with Moinian’s chairman and CEO, Joseph Moinian, “on several highly successful transactions, and look forward to teaming up with him to complete the 3 Columbus Circle redevelopment project, delivering it to the market and leasing it up.” Moinian calls the office REIT, Manhattan’s largest landlord, “the ideal partner with a strong leasing track record in Manhattan.” A Moinian spokesman tells GlobeSt.com the company has no further comment at the moment.

The JV between Moinian and SL Green appears to prevent a takeover of the property, on which a partnership of the Related Cos. and a Deutsche Bank unit bought the debt earlier this year. According to court documents filed in New York State Supreme Court last month, the partnership sought to foreclose on 3 Columbus Circle after Moinan missed payments. Moinian had acquired 1775 Broadway in 2004.

The New York Post, which first reported last month that Moinian and SL Green were in talks, said that Related had planned to demolish the 26-story tower after foreclosing on it, paving the way for a modern residential structure that would have included a Nordstrom department store at its base. A spokeswoman for Related tells GlobeSt.com the company has no comment on the Moinian/SL Green deal.

In other news, SL Green on late Monday reported third-quarter funds from operations of $1.86 per share, compared to 98 cents per share the year prior. Net income for the quarter rose to $1.42 per share from a loss of three cents per share in Q3 2009; the REIT attributed the gain in part to its $280.5-million sale of 510 Madison Ave. to Boston Properties, which resulted in repayment of the debt on the property.

In December ‘09 and February of this year, SL Green had bought the first mortgage loan and senior mezzanine loan on 510 Madison, with a then-outstanding aggregate balance of $249.3 million, for $180.5 million. The sale to BXP resulted in an unleveraged IRR of 55%, according to SL Green.