NEW YORK CITY—Office REIT Columbia Property Trust, Inc. has completed its $516-million purchase of the Class A office portion of the historic New York Times building here.
The Atlanta-based company last month announced it reached a definitive agreement with affiliates of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI L.P. for the 16-story 731,596-square-foot office building at 229 W. 43rd St., in Times Square.
“With a dramatically improved portfolio, a strong balance sheet, and existing presence in New York, we were well positioned to be opportunistic on this acquisition,” states Nelson Mills, president and CEO of Columbia Property Trust. “It's a great addition to the portfolio and provides a source of stable cash flows and diversification to complement our other properties in Manhattan at 222 East 41st St. and 315 Park Ave. South.”
The acquisition was funded with borrowings under Columbia's $500-million unsecured credit facility and a $300-million unsecured bridge loan that bears interest at LIBOR plus 110 basis points and matures in February 2016, with one six-month extension option.
Built and assembled in multiple phases from 1912 through 1947, the former home of The New York Times had recently undergone a $167-million redevelopment program that included a full upgrade of the building's infrastructure, amenities and aesthetics. The property, which is not encumbered by a ground lease, consists of a condominium interest that spans a portion of the first and fourth floors and all of floors five through 16. The lower three and a half floors are owned by a separate entity. Major tenants at the property include Yahoo!, Snapchat, Collective and MongoDB.
In early July, Columbia Property Trust reported it has sold 11 suburban, mostly single-tenant office properties in Chicago (6), Boston (2), Baltimore (1) and Northern New Jersey (2) for $433 million to an unnamed real estate private equity fund.
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John Jordan
John Jordan is a veteran journalist with 36 years of print and digital media experience.
