Morgan Stanley Provides Brookfield With $750M Refi for One Liberty Plaza in NYC
Brookfield had bought Blackstone’s 49 percent stake in the office tower last year at a $500 million loss
By Brian Pascus June 24, 2024 12:52 pm
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Brookfield Properties is doubling down on its investment at One Liberty Plaza.
The firm just secured $750 million from Morgan Stanley (MS) to refinance its loan on the 54-story, 2.3 million square-foot office tower in downtown Manhattan.
PincusCo first reported news of the refinancing.
Brookfield purchased the office property, which sits at 165 Broadway, for $432 million in 2001, according to property records. Olympia & York, Brookfield’s predecessor firm, first acquired the building in 1986.
The Canadian-based real estate conglomerate had sold a 49 percent stake in the building’s ownership to Blackstone (BX) in 2017 when the building was valued at $1.55 billion, but repurchased that same stake last year at a building valuation of $1 billion, representing a $500 million loss, according to The Real Deal.
Morgan Stanley had previously provided Brookfield with $783.9 million to refinance in August 2017, according to property records. Brookfield and Blackstone had aimed to sell prior to the pandemic, and together valued the building at $1.7 billion in March 2020, according to Bloomberg. The city-designated market value for the property as of 2022 is $412.4 million, according to PincusCo.
One of the largest tenants at the building today is law firm Cleary Gottlieb, which has been headquartered at One Liberty Plaza since 1990. Other tenants at One Liberty Plaza include Business Insider, cosmetics brand Avon, consulting firm Aon, flexible workspace provider Convene, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and Cushman & Wakefield.
Brookfield said it plans to unveil “significant capital investments” in the building in the coming months.
“Our successful refinancing of One Liberty Plaza is the latest example that premier, high-quality office buildings continue to attract interest from the mortgage market,” said Bradely Weismiller, Brookfield’s managing partner for real estate capital markets.
Brian Pascus can be reached at bpascus@commercialobserver.com
