Brookfield (BN) Properties has completed a $270 million refinancing of Four World Financial Center, the 1.9 million square foot office tower it owns as part of the World Financial Center Complex in Lower Manhattan.
The deal was done by a group of banks a source said, including Deutsche Bank (DB), which is listed in city records as providing the loan but was part of a syndicate according to the source. The source said Deutsche Bank provided a quarter of the debt, about $68 million.
Late last year, Brookfield reached an agreement to consolidate its ownership of Four World Financial Center, buying a 49 percent interest that was held by Bank of America (BAC) and its subsidiary Merrill Lynch, which is also a tenant in the building. In that deal, Brookfield agreed to pay $264 million for the bank’s stake and assume debt so that it could gain full control of the tower, whose base it is renovating as part of a sweeping makeover of the complex’s retail and public space.
A representative at Brookfield did not return calls seeking comment on the new loan. The mortgage accounts for less than half the roughly $634 million valuation for the building that was set in last year’s purchase of the minority interest, a conservative level of leverage that is typical of real estate investment trusts.
It’s not clear what Brookfield will do with any proceeds it generates from the new loan but the funds could be used to help finance the over-$200 million retail renovation, which the company is just beginning work on.
Brookfield is also planning to break ground this summer on a $300 million deck over working train tracks that lead into Penn Station. The platform will allow to build an up to five million square foot mixed use development – that it is calling Manhattan West – on the Far West Side.
