MetLife Lends Kamber Management $150M for Tower 45 Buy
By Danielle Balbi September 28, 2015 4:40 pm
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MetLife provided New York-based real estate investment and operating firm Kamber Management Company with a $150 million loan to fund its acquisition of Tower 45 in Midtown Manhattan, Commercial Observer has learned.
Kamber recently entered the spotlight after purchasing the 40-story office building, located at 120 West 45th Street, from SL Green Realty Corp. in a $365 million deal that closed last week. The building sits between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, just near Bryant Park, Times Square and Rockefeller Center.
New York-based Estreich & Company brokered the 10-year loan, which covers 41 percent of the purchase price, according to the borrower and lender. The loan carries an interest rate of 3.64 percent.
“The life company’s loan terms were much less restrictive,” Steven Levy, principal of Kamber, told CO over the phone. “The rate was at least one-third of a point lower than the next lowest bidder.”
In 2007, SL Green (SLG) purchased the Class A office building for $285 million and took out a $170 million loan from Merrill Lynch to finance the purchase.
“We and our partners are delighted to acquire such a fine property in the heart of midtown,” Mr. Levy said. “We believe that the asset will benefit from careful capital investment, active personal tenant service and a marketing program that projects an exciting, vibrant and distinguished public image.”
The 458,446-square-foot building was completed in 1989 and recently underwent $8.5 million in capital improvements, according to Kamber’s website. The atrium, lobby, street front and elevators were updated, and roughly 20 percent of the office space was modernized.
The building’s tenants include mutual fund sponsor and distributor Aquila Management and science research lab D.E. Shaw Research. Bobby Van’s Steakhouse also has a location at the base of the building. The property contains a below-grade parking garage, leased to Manhattan Parking.
Kamber owns over one million square feet of office and retail space in New York, Long Island, Connecticut, Maryland, Illinois, North Carolina and South Carolina, including 15 West 37th Street, located near Penn Station between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, and New City Center, a shopping center in Rockland County, N.Y.
A representative for Estreich & Company declined to comment.
