BALTIMORE-Taking advantage of the low interest rate environment, New York City-based Lexington Realty Trust has secured a mortgage for the Transamerica Tower here for $55 million. The loan, which also covers the adjacent parking garage, has a fixed rate of 4.32% that matures in 2023.
Transamerica Tower, at 35 stories and 476,000 square feet, is a solid fixture in this city’s office stock, and is currently 95% occupied. The REIT inked a deal last month with Miles & Stockbridge law firm to relocate to the office tower, located at 100 Light St. The firm is taking 120,000 square feet in the 15-year lease.
The REIT has had an active quarter—including a number of refinancings, according to comments made by CEO T. Wilson Eglin during the company’s most recent conference call. In the first quarter of 2012, LXP closed a seven-year term loan and swapped the LIBOR rate on $161 million of LIBOR borrowings into a fixed LIBOR rate of 1.58% for seven years, so that the interest rate today is fixed at 3.83%, he said.
“We retired $177.3 million of debt, which had an average interest rate of 5.44% and extended our debt maturities,” Eglin also said during the conference call. “We plan on drawing down the balance of the term loan facility over the course of this year and use the proceeds to retire mortgages as they mature.”
The REIT has also been busy on the acquisition front. At the start of the month, it sold a 55% stake it held in a multi-tenant property in Long Beach, CA, for gross proceeds of $69 million. In May, via a joint venture, it acquired an inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Humble, TX for $27.8 million. In April, it acquired an industrial property for $23 million in Missouri City, TX. LXP did not return a call to GlobeSt.com in time for publication Tuesday.
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