Columbia Property Trust scored $300M loan

Columbia Property Trust used $540 million in proceeds from properties it sold in Ohio and Texas to purchase two of New York REIT’s office buildings in Chelsea last month.

The company bought 245-249 West 27th Street, two connected buildings that span 281,000 square feet of office and retail space, and 218 West 18th Street, a 166,000-square foot office building, for $515 million in October. The same day, the REIT purchased a 55 percent stake in an office building in Washington, D.C. Columbia, from PGIM for $231.6 million.

For these three properties, the company used cash on hand and funds borrowed from the company’s line of credit, the latter of which is being paid for with a $300 million short-term loan from a group of banks led by JP Morgan Chase. The financing matures in November 2018 and can be increased by up to $100 million during the term of the loan, according to the latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The other banks providing funds include PNC Bank, Wells Fargo Bank and SunTrust Bank.

Though the SEC filing seems to imply that the loan was used to finance both the New York and Washington acquisitions, a representative for Columbia clarified that the funds were used for the latter.

“Columbia Property Trust’s recent acquisitions in New York City were predominantly funded from its January dispositions of properties in Cleveland [and] in Houston, which netted approximately $540 million in combined proceeds,” a spokesperson for Columbia said in a statement. “This week’s short-term loan agreement will serve a number of purposes throughout Columbia’s national portfolio.”

New York REIT sold the buildings last month as part of its liquidation of its $2.8 billion portfolio.

Clarification: An earlier version of this story reported that Columbia used part of a $300 million loan to finance its purchase of two NY REIT buildings, based on a filing with the SEC. A representative for the company later clarified how the loan was used.