From left: SL Green CEO Marc Holliday, 1515 Broadway, the Graybar Building

It has been “a very busy, satisfying seven weeks,” for SL Green Realty, CEO Marc Holliday said in a conference call with investors today to discuss the company’s fourth-quarter earnings results. The company last spoke to investors at its annual conference Dec. 7.

SL Green posted a $5 million loss for the quarter yesterday, down from
a $76 million gain for the fourth quarter of 2008, but Holliday was
nonetheless optimistic about 2010′s prospects.
Strong leasing activity will better-position the city’s office landlords to attract tenants without the generous concessions seen in 2009, he said.
“The general consensus amongst owners is that we’re going to
see concessions tighten up this year,” Holliday said, adding that
security deposits and lease lengths were likely to increase.
The city’s largest landlord saw average starting rents fall by
30 percent to $33.05 per square foot in the fourth quarter, pushed
downward in part by a 227,782-square-foot lease renewal by BMW of
Manhattan at 555 West 57th Street. Starting rents averaged $47.31 per
square foot in the third quarter of 2009. [more]

SL Green Realty has purchased another leasehold position at the Graybar Building, the 31-story office and retail tower above Grand Central Terminal at 420 Lexington Avenue. The $7.6 million transaction is the second of its kind in recent months. SL Green, which handles both management and leasing at the building, purchased W&M Properties’ leasehold position in August, also for $7.6 million, and in September began to alter the building’s ground-floor leases in order to simplify the ownership structure. SL Green’s mortgage on the Graybar Building was originally due next year, but it refinanced the loan. Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman advised the company on the acquisition. TRD

SL Green Realty is altering some ground-floor leases at the Graybar Building, at 420 Lexington Avenue between 43rd and 44th streets, to simplify the building’s ownership structure before it gets a new mortgage. Several groups have ownership stakes in the building, though it is managed and leased by SL Green. The company bought one ownership stake from W&M Properties early last month for $7.6 million, according to public documents. W&M’s Anthony Malkin said SL Green had approached W&M several times to sell portions of the building. SL Green’s existing mortgage on the building was originally due next year, but the company was able to refinance thanks to the W&M deal and several others.

Despite a tight lending environment, New York-based pension fund TIAA-CREF financed a $145 million leasehold mortgage on SL Green Realty’s Graybar Building, at 420 Lexington Avenue in Midtown, according to a statement released today by Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman, which arranged the deal. The 31-story, 1.5 million-square-foot tower sits above Grand Central Terminal, and was acquired by the real estate investment trust SL Green in 1998. It is 97 percent leased, the statement says. TRD [more]