Australia’s Grocon Seeking $500 Million Acquisition Financing for Park Ave Tower
By Damian Ghigliotty December 5, 2013 5:10 pm
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Grocon, Australia’s largest privately owned development company, is seeking $500 million in financing for the acquisition of a majority stake in Park Avenue Tower at 65 East 55th Street, a source familiar with the transaction told Mortgage Observer on background.
Grocon is in the market for “non-recourse loan proceeds collateralized by Park Avenue Tower to facilitate the sponsor’s acquisition of 95 percent of the controlling fee-simple interest in the property,” that person said.
The developer is said to be seeking a fixed or floating rate loan with a term of five years through Jones Lang LaSalle. A JLL (JLL) spokesperson declined to comment. Grocon could not be reached for comment in time for publication.
The San Francisco-based real estate investment firm Shorenstein Properties purchased majority stakes in Park Avenue Tower and 850 Third Avenue from Macklowe Properties for a combined $930 million in 2008.
Shorenstein began quietly exploring a sale of its stake in the 35-story Park Avenue Tower office building in the beginning of the year, Real Estate Finance Intelligence reported this March.
The 615,857-square-foot property was built in 1986. It was designed as a “building-within-a-building” for IBM, the tower’s original anchor tenant.
