A rendering of 7 Bryant Park

J.P. Morgan Asset Management's investment is believed to be worth upwards of $350 million, industry sources told The Commercial Observer. 

With the equity investment intact, both Hines and joint venture partner Pacolet Milliken Enterprises, Inc. will move forward with its construction plans, which is set to begin in the fourth quarter of this year. First occupancy is slated for the fourth quarter 2014. The bank is offering 100 percent of the financing on an equity basis.

"We do quite a bit of work with J.P. Morgan around the world and they have various entities within the bank, and we selected them in April and finalized documents last week," said Tommy Craig, head of Hines' New York/Tri-State regional activities. "Those documents provide that we now move forward to competitively select a general contractor with the expectation of starting construction this fall."

The 470,000-square-foot building, to be designed by architect Henry N. Cobb, will offer spaces for major tenants looking to occupy 100,000-to-250,000 square foot offices. CBRE's Mary Ann Tighe is heading 7 Bryant Park's leasing and marketing efforts.

The key attraction of the new steel and glass tower will be its proximity to Bryant Park, said Mr. Craig.

"Bryant Park really is now a submarket in its own right, really over the last 20 years, and I would argue it's the amenity that the commercial population most enjoys, whereas Central Park is largely used by the residential population," he added.

The building's facade will be "punctuated by a concave sculptural detail which cuts into the building in an hourglass shape," Hines says in a press release.

The new office space will offer 10-foot finished ceilings, column-free floor plans, and is slated for LEED Gold certification.

"We are excited to deliver something that we believe is lacking in the built environment, which is for users of that size to choose new buildings where they become, ultimately, the anchor tenant in a prime location," said Mr. Craig.

drosen@observer.com