Hines gets $1B financing for Jean Nouvel-designed MoMa tower

From left: Jean Nouvel, a rendering of 53 West 53rd Street and Liong Tek Kwee (inset)
From left: Jean Nouvel, a rendering of 53 West 53rd Street and Liong Tek Kwee (inset)

Hines’ planned 1,050-foot-tall tower next to the Museum of Modern Art has secured about $1 billion in financing, allowing the Jean Nouvel-designed project to move ahead after years of limbo.

The billionaire Kwee family of Singapore is putting a $300 million equity stake into the 53 West 53rd Street project, while a consortium of Asian banks is making a $860 million loan to the developer, a partnership between Hines and Goldman Sachs. The tower will have 145 luxury condominiums and house the MoMA’s new 36,000-square-foot gallery expansion.

The total costs for the 78-story project – where construction is slated to kick off next year — are expected to hit about $1.3 billion, sources familiar with the deal told the Wall Street Journal.

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MoMa’s director Glenn Lowry told the newspaper that it looks forward to creating “new and engaging public spaces.”

Last year, Hines tapped Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group as the exclusive sales and marketing agency for the tower.  [WSJ]  – Hiten Samtani