Vornado Secures $273M Loan to Refinance Warner Building

Vornado Realty Trust, the New York-based equity real estate investment trust, announced that it has completed a $273 million refinancing of The Warner Building in Washington, DC. The seven year loan provided by TIAA-CREF has a fixed rate of 3.65%, a step away from the previous 6.26%/$293 million mortgage on the office building that was set to mature on May 12. Washington Business Journal reported in April that Vornado faced the prospect of defaulting on its previous loan, which had been transferred to special servicer LNR Partners Inc., according to debt monitoring firms Fitch Ratings and Trepp LLC. The building is owned by a joint venture between Vornado Realty Trust, controlling 55%, while Canada Pension Plan Investment Board controls the remaining 45%.

Located at 1299 Pennsylvania Avenue, the 621,000 square foot office building was built in 1993, renovated in 2012, and sits just three blocks from the White House and overlooks Freedom Plaza. Designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, The Warner Building features a dramatic sky-lit interior atria, a rooftop terrace, fitness center and 24 hour on-site security. The property is currently 88% leased, with major tenants including General Electric, Facebook, Hewlett Packard and APCO Worldwide, with ground floor retail tenants including Au Bon Pain and the Warner Theatre.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

7 Bryant Park Sold for $600M

The Bank of China has closed on the purchase of 7 Bryant Park, the new 470,000-square-foot steel and glass tower which was substantially completed at the end of April. Hines, along with partners Pacolet Milliken Enterprises, Inc. and institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management, announced the sale for $600 million. Hines has assumed on-site property management responsibilities, and CBRE has been selected as the exclusive leasing agent for the property.

"We are very proud of the project and know it will be not only a great new home for future tenants, but a great investment for the new owner," said Hines Senior Managing Director Tommy Craig. "We are pleased to stay involved with the property and look forward to working with CBRE to fill the remaining prime office space with top-quality, discerning tenants."

Designed by renowned architects Henry N. Cobb and Yvonne Szeto of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, 7 Bryant Park is ready for tenant interior build outs, with floors 15-27, and the first-floor retail space fronting West 40th Street, available for lease at the time of sale. The building provides direct access to the B, D, F, M and 7 Subway lines, and is located within a five-minute walk to New York City’s major transit hubs — Grand Central, Penn Station and Port Authority.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

Parkway Properties Buying NASCAR Headquarters for $100M

Parkway Properties, Inc. announced this week that it had entered into a purchase agreement for NASCAR Plaza in Charlotte, NC for a purchase price of approximately $100 million. A joint venture between Trinity Capital Advisors and Rubenstein Partners is selling the 390,000 20-story office tower located in the central business district, according to an Orlando Business Journal article. Parkway will own 100% of the asset and plans to assume the first mortgage secured by the property, which has a current outstanding balance of approximately $42.3 million with a current interest rate of 4.7% and a maturity date of March 30, 2016; Parkway intends to amend and restate the loan upon assumption to current market terms. Closing is expected to occur by the end of the fourth quarter 2012 and is subject to customary closing conditions.

James R. Heistand, Parkway's President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "The purchase of NASCAR Plaza represents another off-market transaction that enables us to expand in one of our key, target submarkets with a high-quality asset. NASCAR Plaza has a strong tenant base and is the headquarters for several well-known companies, and we expect to create additional value through leasing and rent growth in a submarket that we believe will outperform during a recovery."

Walker Collier, Partner at Trinity Capital, notes that while it's bittersweet to sell the building after less than two years of ownership, he is proud of Trinity Capital's work that created such value for the asset. "Rubenstein Partners and Trinity Capital‘s partnership worked tirelessly with our leasing and property management stakeholders to shift NASCAR Plaza from the tremendous distress it was under before it was purchased, creating the stabilized asset it is today," Collier said. "NASCAR Plaza will serve as a good case study for Trinity Capital and the value creation that we work towards for our investors and partners." Anne Vulcano and Jessica Brown of CBRE handled the building's leasing duties and Trinity Partners managed the property for the ownership group.

NASCAR Plaza, created by renowned Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and built in 2009, sits adjacent to the NASCAR Hall of Fame and serves as the headquarters of NASCAR. The building is currently 88% leased, with 139,000 square feet leased to NASCAR through May 2021.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Hines Building Bryant Park Office Tower

Hines announced this week that it would partner with Pacolet Milliken Enterprises, Inc. to develop a new office tower at the corner of Sixth Avenue and 40th Street, across from Bryant Park according to a CoStar report. The 450,000 square foot tower is expected to begin construction next year and be ready for occupancy as early as 2014. Designed by architects Henry N. Cobb and Yvonne Szeto of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, the 28 story building will offer a "singular opportunity for mid-sized tenants in the midtown market," said Hines Senior Vice President Tommy Craig, head of the firm's New York/Tri-State region.

Pacolet Milliken President Richard C. Webel added, "Our Company and its ownership families are proud to be part of a project that we believe will contribute to the Bryant Park environment. We are equally proud that the building responds to the challenge from Roger Milliken, our founding chairman, to create a uniquely distinguished design that reaches for a high level of sustainability."

According to Cobb, "The building was conceived in response to the extraordinary circumstance of its location at the corner of Bryant Park. The hourglass façade detail will be a lens through which building occupants can view the park with dramatic and alluring immediacy."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.