L&L Holding Buys Lehman's Interest in 425 Park Ave for $140M

L&L Holding Co., a privately-held, vertically- integrated real. estate company, has acquired Lehman Brothers' 90% interest in 425 Park Avenue. L&L paid close to $140 million, about $240 per square foot, for Lehman's portion of the property, valued at $84 million in 2006. L&L Holding originally acquired the site in 2006 in partnership with Lehman, and has now secured long-term investment partners for a planned development that will see the property torn down to its steel and redesigned as a world-class, 21st-century office tower, according to a CoStar report.

L&L announced last April that it had plans to replace the existing tower with a new state-of-the-art, LEED-certified skyscraper. Norman Foster, Jean Nouvel, Zaha Hadid and Richard Meier were a few of the architects that L&L invited to join in a competition for the redevelopment of the 65 year-old tower; Foster + Partners was named the winner in October 2012. The 425 Park MAS Presentation with David Levinson + Norman Fos can be seen here.

David Levinson, chairman and CEO of L&L Holding, described the plan as an "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity. "It's not often that you get a vacant building on Park Avenue and it's the first time that's happened in 50 years," he told GlobeSt.com. "It's a very important moment and we want to create the finest building we possibly can and we are going out to what we believe are some of the brightest, creative architectural minds out there who work with us and collaborate with us in creating this very important iconic structure."

L&L declined to name its investment partners on the deal. Construction on the new 41-story office property is slated to start in 2013 and is expected to be completed by 2017.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

CityCenterDC Breaks Ground

Construction began this week on six new buildings and a public plaza for the CityCenterDC Complex, a project that city officials say could cost $950 million and be one of the largest active developments on the East Coast according to the Washington Post The project is being 100% funded by equity financing with Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company as the anchor investor for the development. The financing was arranged by Barwa Bank’s investment banking subsidiary The First Investor. DC is leasing the property to Hines|Archstone for $500,000 annually over a 99-year period and expects to collect about $30 million annually in taxes according to the article.

Designed by Foster + Partners, CityCenterDC is a 10-acre, mixed-use development at the site of the old Convention Center in downtown Washington. The complex is expected to reach substantial completion by the fourth quarter of 2013. he first phase of the project, scheduled for completion in late 2013, is expected to include 185,000 square feet of retail, 458 rental apartments, 216 condominium units, 520,000 square feet of office and 1,555 parking spaces. A 350-room hotel and another 110,000 square feet of retail are planned for a second phase.

"This is one of the most valuable pieces of property in the world," said D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown. "It's going to create thousands of jobs and we have local equity participation, which means local business will own a piece of the development."

Mohammed Al Hedfa, CEO of Qatari Diar said, "We are delighted to provide the anchor investment in the TFI US Real Estate Fund. In conjunction with our co-investors and strategic partners, Hines|Archstone, we look forward to the realization of this landmark development."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.