Walter & Samuels Borrows $70 Million to Refinance Midtown West Office Tower
By Matt Grossman May 25, 2018 12:15 pm
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New York City-based Allegiant Capital Funding has lent $70 million to refinance Walter & Samuels‘ 500 Eighth Avenue, according to property records.
The new loan knocks out previous rounds of debt from Citibank from 2015 and 2016. The outstanding principal on those loans stood at $60 million; the new deal refreshes that debt and adds an additional $10 million to the balance.
Built in 1922, the 12-story building offers about 230,000 square feet of office space, occupied by lessees including a graphic-design firm and a school that teaches English to foreigners, according to CoStar (CSGP) Group. The largest tenant, Pearl Studios, rents 33,000 square feet across two floors that performing-arts groups use for audition and rehearsal space.
Staples rents 15,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, while room for another 17,000-square-foot shop is unoccupied.
As progress continues apace on development at Hudson Yards and for Moynihan Train Hall, the expansion of Penn Station underway between Eighth and Ninth Avenues and West 31st and West 33rd Streets, Midtown West has become fertile ground for an active office financing market
Last month, Brookfield borrowed $1.2 billion to refinance its stake in 5 Manhattan West. And late last year, Cove pulled in a $479 million loan for construction of a new office tower at 441 Ninth Avenue, between West 34th and West 35th Streets.
Walter & Samuels has owned the building since 1996, when it bought 500 Eighth from Contemporary Guidance Services for an undisclosed sum.
Representatives for Allegiant and for Walter & Samuels did not immediately respond to an inquiry.
