Vanbarton Lands $352M for Midtown Manhattan Tower

July 10, 2026

Finance New York News Northeast More Office

Goldman Sachs provided the loan using BlackRock funds.

Aerial shot of 425 Lexington Ave., a trophy tower in Midtown Manhattan. — 425 Lexington has undergone a $35 million renovation program which added a new amenity center.
*Image courtesy of JLL Capital Markets*

Vanbarton Group has obtained a $352 million loan to refinance 425 Lexington Ave., a 750,000-square-foot office tower in Midtown Manhattan. Goldman Sachs provided the floating-rate, single-asset single-borrower note using funds and accounts managed by BlackRock. JLL Capital Markets arranged the deal.

The refinancing retires a $214.4 million loan originated by New York Life Insurance Co. in 2023, according to Yardi Matrix data. The previous note was scheduled to mature this August. The Class A office tower has been under Vanbarton’s ownership since 2018, when the company paid $701 million, or $1,001 per square foot, to JP Morgan Asset Management to acquire it.

Completed in 1987 after the plans of architect Helmut Jahn, 425 Lexington Ave. features floorplates ranging from 14,000 to 32,563 square feet, across 31 floors. A LEED Gold-certified property, the office building has recently undergone a $35 million renovation program which added a 16,700-square-foot amenity center. Dubbed LX Club, the space includes a wellness center with sauna and yoga studio, multiple tenant lounges and a 45-person conference facility.

The high-rise serves as the global headquarters for law firm anchor Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, which occupies 595,000 square feet at the property. The tenant roster also includes Blackstone, JP Morgan, Citadel, MetLife and Holwell Shuster & Goldberg. At the time of the deal, 425 Lexington Ave. was 99 percent leased.

The property occupies an entire city block, located directly across from Grand Central Terminal, the One Vanderbilt and the Chrysler buildings.

JLL Capital Markets Senior Managing Directors Christopher Peck and Drew Isaacson, together with Directors Christopher Pratt and Jennifer Zelko, brokered the refinancing deal on behalf of the ownership.

Top-tier Manhattan buildings still attract lender interest

As of May, Manhattan’s average office listing rates rose 1.8 percent year-over-year to $69.3 per square foot, according to a recent Yardi Matrix report, with San Francisco ($62.1 per square foot) and Miami ($58.4 per square foot) trailing behind at a distance. During the same timeframe, the borough’s average vacancy rate registered another steep 260-basis-point drop compared to May 2025, to 13.1 percent, placing the market back on top with the lowest value across the largest 30 markets in the U.S.

While Class B office buildings continue to struggle to obtain refinancing, recently upgraded, Class A properties maintain their magnetic pull with investors and lenders. Recent office refinancing deals in Manhattan include Rithm Capital Corp. securing $415 million to recapitalize its 785,087-square-foot tower at 31 W. 52nd St. in Plaza District. Last month, a partnership between Broad Street Development and KSR Capital also secured $138 million for 370 Lexington Ave., two blocks south of Vanbarton’s high-rise.