EDC Seals $34M Bond Deal for New Children’s Aid Society HQ in Harlem
By Rebecca Baird-Remba September 17, 2019 9:58 am
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The New York City Economic Development Corporation has finalized a deal to issue $34 million in tax-exempt bonds to finance the Children’s Aid Society’s purchase of its new headquarters in Harlem, Commercial Observer can first report.
The agency is issuing the bonds through the Build NYC Resource Corporation, a public corporation that finances economic development projects with city bonds. J.P. Morgan Chase underwrote the transaction and declined to comment.
Children’s Aid will use the bonds to purchase and renovate a 42,000-square-foot office condo building at 117 West 124th Street (also known as 114 West 125th Street) in Harlem. The nonprofit entered into contract to buy the property for $45.3 million last year, as CO previously reported.
The 166-year-old children’s welfare organization left its longtime headquarters at 287 Park Avenue South after Chinese developer CL Investment Group paid $128 million for the historic property, known as the United Charities Building, in 2014. Coworking operator Spaces leased the entirety of the building last year.
Since then, the nonprofit has split its offices between Midtown and various Harlem locations. It also leased an additional 23,000 square feet of office space in the Harlem Center at 105 West 25th Street, across the street from 114 West 125th, in order to supplement its new headquarters. The organization will consolidate its offices and move 300 workers to both 125th Street spaces next year, as CO previously noted.
