NEW YORK CITY—ING Capital has originated a $570 million senior secured bridge loan for Olayan America—the US investment arm of The Olayan Group—to buy 550 Madison Ave.

An iconic Midtown skyscraper best known as the Sony building, the property has a first mortgage that is securing the short-term loan. Construction of the building was completed in 1984 as the global headquarters of AT&T. It has been sold two times previously: to Sony Corp. in 2002 and in 2013 to the Chetrit Group, the immediate past owner.

The 37-story building in the Plaza District provides 852,830 square feet of rentable mixed-use space. The building features approximately 776,000 square feet of office space, retail frontage on Madison Avenue, as well as exhibition and museum space.

The property is currently occupied by one restaurant tenant holding 5,000 square feet. It is effectively 100% vacant, providing Olayan and asset manager Chelsfield an opportunity to rebrand the building and create value by renovating and reconfiguring the existing space.

Morrison & Foerster's real estate group, chaired by Mark Edelstein, provided legal counsel to ING on the financing, with partner Chris Delson leading the deal team. A Shearman & Sterling team—led by partners Chris Smith, Malcolm Montgomery, counsel Paul Balaam and associate Kris Ferranti—represented Olayan America,

“The property has been maintained to a high standard and has never previously been available to the open market for office leasing,” notes Tony Fusco, head of Real Estate at Olayan America.

“ING committed the bridge facility very quickly at attractive terms so that this deal could conclude within a very tight time frame,” says Nadim Tabbara, CFO, The Olayan Group.

“The Sony Building is a New York City landmark,” asserts Craig Bender, managing director, ING. “We are especially proud to have worked on this deal for one of our longstanding global clients. Our long-term real estate investment outlook is strong, and we look forward to seeing how Olayan and Chelsfield reposition this property in the future.”

NEW YORK CITY—ING Capital has originated a $570 million senior secured bridge loan for Olayan America—the US investment arm of The Olayan Group—to buy 550 Madison Ave.

“The property has been maintained to a high standard and has never previously been available to the open market for office leasing,” notes Tony Fusco, head of Real Estate at Olayan America.

“ING committed the bridge facility very quickly at attractive terms so that this deal could conclude within a very tight time frame,” says Nadim Tabbara, CFO, The Olayan Group.

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