NEW YORK — SL Green Realty Corp. has completed two transactions at 1552-1560 Broadway, the flagship retail location located in the heart of the Times Square bow tie.
In June, SL Green, with its joint venture partner, Jeff’s Sutton’s Wharton Properties, acquired the debt encumbering the fee interest at 1552 Broadway and the leasehold interest at 1560 Broadway, which had a total debt claim of $219.5 million, inclusive of $26.4 million of accrued and unpaid interest, for $63.0 million. Subsequent to the loan purchase, the joint venture finalized a ground lease and a sign bracing agreement at 1560 Broadway with GFP Real Estate and Benenson Capital Partners, with the term through 2074.
“The transactions allow us to capture the long-term value of this premier retail and signage asset at favorable terms,” said Harrison Sitomer, Chief Investment Officer of SL Green. “With our basis in the asset now reset to an attractive level, we have unlocked future cash flow and upside through our ground lease and sign bracing agreement.”
Simultaneously, SL Green announced that 1552 Broadway, formerly occupied by clothing retailer Express, has been leased on an interim basis to an apparel and merchandise retailer while a long-term credit tenant is identified through a lease marketing process that is being overseen by Wharton Properties. This interim lease does not include the large LED signs, which are being separately leased.
Jeff Gural, Chairman and Principal of GFP Real Estate, and Richard Kessler, COO of Benenson Capital Partners, arranged the transaction on behalf of ownership.
