Regions Northeast | New York
Aug 14, 2008
By: Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor
Just a day after announcing the closing of two New York City office building acquisitions from Macklowe Properties totaling $705 million, Boston Properties has completed its purchase of yet another Macklowe trophy office building, 125 West 55th St. The acquisition of 125 West 55th St. was part of a $3.95 billion, four-property portfolio purchase agreement Boston Properties and partners made with debt-ridden Macklowe earlier this year.
To get its hands on the 591,000-square-foot Midtown Manhattan tower that Macklowe developed in 1989, Boston Properties agreed to a purchase price of $440 million, including the assumption of $263.5 million in debt with a weighted-average fixed interest rate of 6.31 percent. Boston Properties made the buy via a joint venture involving Dubai-based private equity firm Meraas Capital L.L.C. and US Real Estate Opportunities I, a partnership managed by Goldman Sachs.
Also referred to as Avenue of the Americas Plaza, the 23-story building at 125 West 55th was designed by the architectural firm of Edward Larrabee Barnes & Associates, and stretches from 55th St. to 56th St. between Avenue of the Americas and Seventh Ave. Boston Properties, which will oversee property management and leasing activities at the building, has a 60 percent ownership stake in the joint venture.
The two other acquisitions Boston Properties et al just wrapped up are the 39-story 540 Madison Ave. and the 44-story Two Grand Central Tower, accounting fro 292,000 square feet and 664,000 square feet of Class A office space, respectively. The fourth building in the four-structure deal--which is allowing Macklowe, burdened with subprime loan market issues, to pay down its $7 billion in financing debt secured for its acquisition of an Equity Office Properties Trust portfolio--is the General Motors Building. Located at 767 Fifth Ave., the 2 million-square-foot property fetched a record-breaking $2.8 billion.
Boston Properties hasn't just been busy snapping up New York City buildings. The REIT announced that subsidiary Boston Properties L.P. has priced an offering of $650 million aggregate principal amount of exchangeable senior notes due 2014 with a 3.625 percent coupon. Boston Properties plans to use the offering's net proceeds, estimated at just over $636 million, to pay the cost of a capped call transaction, repay debt--and to pursue development, acquisition and other investment endeavors.
Headquartered in Beantown, Boston Properties is a fully integrated self-managed REIT that acquires, develops, operates and manages a portfolio consisting primarily of Class A office assets and a single hotel property. The company, one of the largest Class A office property owners and developers in the United States, focuses on the Boston, Midtown Manhattan, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Princeton, N.J., markets. Boston Properties stock opened today at $97.25.
New York City-based Macklowe, founded in the mid-1960s by leading real estate industry player Harry Macklowe, also acquires and develops properties. The company's portfolio encompasses approximately 10 million square feet of office space and 900 apartment units.
By: Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor
Just a day after announcing the closing of two New York City office building acquisitions from Macklowe Properties totaling $705 million, Boston Properties has completed its purchase of yet another Macklowe trophy office building, 125 West 55th St. The acquisition of 125 West 55th St. was part of a $3.95 billion, four-property portfolio purchase agreement Boston Properties and partners made with debt-ridden Macklowe earlier this year.
To get its hands on the 591,000-square-foot Midtown Manhattan tower that Macklowe developed in 1989, Boston Properties agreed to a purchase price of $440 million, including the assumption of $263.5 million in debt with a weighted-average fixed interest rate of 6.31 percent. Boston Properties made the buy via a joint venture involving Dubai-based private equity firm Meraas Capital L.L.C. and US Real Estate Opportunities I, a partnership managed by Goldman Sachs.
Also referred to as Avenue of the Americas Plaza, the 23-story building at 125 West 55th was designed by the architectural firm of Edward Larrabee Barnes & Associates, and stretches from 55th St. to 56th St. between Avenue of the Americas and Seventh Ave. Boston Properties, which will oversee property management and leasing activities at the building, has a 60 percent ownership stake in the joint venture.
The two other acquisitions Boston Properties et al just wrapped up are the 39-story 540 Madison Ave. and the 44-story Two Grand Central Tower, accounting fro 292,000 square feet and 664,000 square feet of Class A office space, respectively. The fourth building in the four-structure deal--which is allowing Macklowe, burdened with subprime loan market issues, to pay down its $7 billion in financing debt secured for its acquisition of an Equity Office Properties Trust portfolio--is the General Motors Building. Located at 767 Fifth Ave., the 2 million-square-foot property fetched a record-breaking $2.8 billion.
Boston Properties hasn't just been busy snapping up New York City buildings. The REIT announced that subsidiary Boston Properties L.P. has priced an offering of $650 million aggregate principal amount of exchangeable senior notes due 2014 with a 3.625 percent coupon. Boston Properties plans to use the offering's net proceeds, estimated at just over $636 million, to pay the cost of a capped call transaction, repay debt--and to pursue development, acquisition and other investment endeavors.
Headquartered in Beantown, Boston Properties is a fully integrated self-managed REIT that acquires, develops, operates and manages a portfolio consisting primarily of Class A office assets and a single hotel property. The company, one of the largest Class A office property owners and developers in the United States, focuses on the Boston, Midtown Manhattan, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Princeton, N.J., markets. Boston Properties stock opened today at $97.25.
New York City-based Macklowe, founded in the mid-1960s by leading real estate industry player Harry Macklowe, also acquires and develops properties. The company's portfolio encompasses approximately 10 million square feet of office space and 900 apartment units.
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