SL Green Scores $425M Refi

NEW YORK CITY-SL Green Realty Corp. said Tuesday it had closed on a $475-million refinancing of 1515 Broadway, the latest in a series of recapitalizations of the REIT’s Manhattan office properties. It replaces a $625-million mortgage that was due to mature in November.

“At a time when many commercial property owners have faced difficulties in financing and refinancing their assets, we continue to access our relationship base to source value-add financings,” SL Green president Andrew Mathias says in a release. The new five-year, floating-rate mortgage was provided by a syndicate led by the Bank of China and also including DekaBank and Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg; DekaBank led the group that provided the $215-million refi on 100 Park Ave. this past September.

Matthias adds that the 1515 Broadway refi follows recapitalizations of the Graybar Building at 420 Lexington Ave., 625 Madison Ave. and 1551-1555 Broadway, in addition to the 100 Park deal. “As we indicated at our recent investor conference, we were able to source this financing which required a lower equity contribution than previously forecast,” he says in the release. EVP Robert Martin of CB Richard Ellis, together with Deutsche Bank’s commercial real estate restructuring advisory practice, advised SL Green for the transaction.

SL Green acquired the 54-story office tower for $480 million in a joint venture with SITQ Immobilier in March 2002. It’s undergoing a $40-million capital program that’s expected to be completed this quarter.

Viacom Inc. anchors the property, having expanded and renewed its global headquarters space there to 1.3 million square feet in November 2008. Also housed at the 1.9-million-square-foot tower, which was completed in 1972 and is also known as 1 Astor Plaza, are the Minskoff Theatre and AEG Live’s Nokia Theatre.