SL Green Forms One Vanderbilt JV with Korean Pension Fund, Hines

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SL Green Realty Corp. has brought in two new equity partners for One Vanderbilt, the developer’s under-construction tower adjacent to Grand Central Terminal.

National Pension Service of Korea now owns a 27.6 percent interest in the planned skyscraper, while fellow developer Hines has taken a 1.4 percent stake, according to an SL Green (SLG) press release. Together, the two companies are investing at least $525 million into One Vanderbilt, which will stand at 1,401 feet with 58 stories when completed in 2020. Hines was already the development manager of the 1.6-million-square-foot office building, which broke ground in October.

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“The National Pension Service of Korea is an extraordinary partner for us at One Vanderbilt and will help realize our shared vision for developing the best building in New York City,” Marc Holliday, the chief executive officer of SL Green, said in prepared remarks. “Hines has been with us at One Vanderbilt from the beginning and will be a terrific addition to the joint venture.”   

The joint venture was a long time coming. Holliday and other executives at the company have signaled in earnings calls over the past year that they were looking for outside investors for the $3.14 billion project.

“It is a privilege for Hines, after seven years of working together on this iconic project, to join SL Green as well as NPS, a significant global investment partner of our firm, in the singular project that is One Vanderbilt,” Gerald Hines, the founder and chairman of his eponymous firm, said in a statement.

In September 2016, SL Green closed on a $1.5 billion construction loan from  Wells Fargo, Bank of New York Mellon, J.P. Morgan Chase, TD Bank and Bank of China. Securing the hefty loan paved the way for construction to begin on the tower, which sits at the northwest corner of Vanderbilt Avenue and East 42nd Street.

While SL Green has secured financing, begun construction and now formed a joint venture, the company has yet to lockdown a large-scale tenant to anchor the structure. Only TD Bank has pre-leased at the building, taking about 200,000 square feet for both office and retail use.