Vornado to Sell Minority Interest in 330 Madison Avenue
By Mack Burke June 10, 2019 6:14 pm
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Vornado Realty Trust is planning to sell its minority stake in the massive Midtown office tower at 330 Madison Avenue, the firm announced today.
The sell off comes months after a January report from The New York Post that Vornado’s 75 percent majority partner in the asset, sovereign wealth fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), was looking to offload its stake for around $1 billion. That report indicated that Vornado was in line to hold onto its position.
“Pursuant to a buy/sell process initiated by [Vornado’s] 75 percent partner at a $900 million valuation, it has elected to sell its 25 percent interest in 330 Madison Avenue,” the firm wrote in a press release.
The firm said it expects the sale to close in the third quarter.
CBRE (CBRE)’s Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan were said to be marketing ADIA’s stake in January, according to The Post’s report. But, Stacom told CO that ADIA had not, in fact, marketed the asset, but instead “went forward with the buy/sell [process] to gain control of 100 percent of the real estate.”
Vornado expects to pocket around $100 million for the sale, after it deducts the $500 million seven-year, interest-only loan provided by Wells Fargo in 2017 to refinance the building. At the time of the refinance, Vornado netted $85 million of the loan’s proceeds after it repaid a $150 million loan on the property that was provided by Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg in July of 2015, according to property records.
Built in 1965, the 40-story, 846,000-square-foot property—located between East 42nd and East 43rd Streets, just a block east of Grand Central Station—underwent a roughly $121 million renovation and repositioning in 2014, according to ratings agency documents. After the renovation, Vornado—in a joint venture with ADIA subsidiary Chadison—was able to execute over 600,000 square feet of new and renewal leases, according to a presale report from DBRS.
A representative for Vornado did not immediately provide a comment.
