UK fund loaning $850M for Related’s Hudson Yards resi tower

Children’s Investment Fund has provided financing on 432 Park, 30 Park Place

Christopher Hohn and a rendering of Hudson Yards
Christopher Hohn and a rendering of Hudson Yards

A United Kingdom-based hedge fund that’s bankrolled the construction of supertall condos for big shots like Harry Macklowe and Larry Silverstein is making an $850 million loan to the Related Cos. for one of its Hudson Yards residential towers.

The Children’s Investment Fund, founded in 2003 by activist investor Christopher Hohn, is providing $850 million in construction financing for the condo portion of 553 West 30th StreetThe Real Deal has learned.

Also known as 15 Hudson Yards, the 70-story mixed-use tower is slated to begin rising at the southwest corner of the site in February. It will consist of 285 market-rate condos and 106 affordable rental units, the latter of which will be financed separately through a construction loan provided by the state Housing Finance Agency as part of Related’s participation in its 80/20 program.

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A spokesperson for Children’s Investment Fund declined to comment. The building is scheduled to be completed in 2018.

Hohn’s London-based company, which is affiliated with a charity group founded by his ex-wife to benefit children in developing nations, is the most active construction financier of Manhattan’s supertall condo buildings.

The fund has opened its checkbook to the tune of $1.7 billion since 2011, as TRD previously reported, issuing building loans to Macklowe’s 432 Park Avenue and Silverstein’s 30 Park Place, as well as Zeckendorf Development’s 520 Park Avenue. Hohn’s declined to comment for this story.