MetLife Loans $300M On West 34th Office Property

New York-based Vornado Realty Trust announced that it completed a $300 million recourse financing of 7 West 34th Street with a loan provided by Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. Vornado also announced that it has sold a 47% interest in the property to Korea Post, a sovereign wealth fund under the national postal service of South Korea, at a value of $561 million or $1,176 per square foot. Vornado originally purchased the 12-story office building in October 2000 for approximately $128 million from HRPT Properties Trust, which purchased it from Devon Properties in October 1997 for $110 million.

Built in 1910 and once home to Ohrbach's Department Store, the 477,000 square foot Manhattan office building in the Penn Plaza District sits across the street from the Empire State Building and is fully leased to Amazon in a 17-year contract signed in November 2014, with three five-year lease options that could stretch the lease until 2047. Vornado made significant capital improvements to the property in recent years, enlisted the architecture firm MdeAS — best known for its redesign of the GM Building's public plaza — to transform the lobby, and included upgraded elevators, new restrooms and a large outdoor terrace. Vornado will continue to own a 53% interest and continue to manage and lease the property.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

Korea Post Buys Midtown I & II in Atlanta

CBRE Global Investors' U.S. Managed Accounts Group announced that it has acquired Midtown I & II in Midtown Atlanta on behalf of Korea Post, the national postal service of South Korea. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the property did previously sell for $225 million in 2013 when Cole Real Estate Investments teamed with Macfarlan Capital Partners to acquire the complex from KanAm Grundinvest Fonds (who had purchased the complex at the market's peak in 2007 for $242 million).

"Our investors are increasingly looking for global diversification," said Peter DiCorpo, President, CBRE Global Investors' U.S. Managed Accounts Group. "We can offer the on-the-ground experts in their target investment markets as well as in their home country to provide a seamless solution for migrating capital across borders."

Midtown I & II is a 794,110 square foot, Class A, state-of-the-art corporate campus situated in the heart of the Midtown submarket of Atlanta, across I-85 from the campus of University of Georgia Tech. The 16-story and 8-story buildings are 100% leased to AT&T and were originally constructed at build-to-suits for Southwestern Bell in 2001 and 2002. The property also includes a nine-story 2,459-space parking garage, which is also home to 13,257 square feet of ground floor retail space, as well as AT&T's 5,000 square foot Drive Studio. The Drive Studio is a platform which allows automakers to add and test connected services, such as in-car entertainment systems, over-the-air diagnostic systems, and other innovative cellular-enabled features.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.