Vornado JV Lands $250M for Manhattan Building

The joint venture of Vornado Realty Trust and Korea Post has obtained a $250 million note for the refinancing of 7 West 34th Street, a fully occupied Class A office building in Manhattan’s Murray Hill neighborhood.

The non-recourse, five-year, interest-only loan bears a fixed interest rate of 5.79 percent and will mature in February 2031. A private lender provided the financing, according to Yardi Matrix information.

Proceeds retire the outstanding balance of a 10-year, $300 million loan from Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., the same data provider shows. That note, due to mature in June 2026, has a fixed interest rate of 3.65 percent.

The office building encompasses 477,000 square feet across 12 stories. Vornado purchased the asset in 2000 from Equity Commonwealth for $128 million, or $268.35 per square foot. Korea Post acquired a 47 percent ownership stake in the property for $561 million in 2016.

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Completed in 1901, the mid-rise underwent a complete renovation in 2014. The LEED Gold-certified property has floorplates ranging from 5,412 to 43,737 square feet and 19,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. Amazon leases the building’s entire office space for its Prime Now delivery service, while the retail portion houses Lindt chocolate and LensCrafters.

The fully occupied asset is across the street from the Empire State Building. Both Madison Square Garden and Herald Square are half a mile away.

Vornado’s recent Manhattan activity

Vornado owns office and retail properties across Manhattan, with more than 20 million square feet of office space in its portfolio, according to Yardi Matrix. Earlier this month, the company secured a $525 million refinancing loan for One Park Avenue, a deal expected to close in February.

In November, Vornado signed a 10-year, 62,000-square-foot lease with Current, a financial technology company, at Penn 2, its redeveloped office property above Penn Station. The new tenant is relocating from Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood.