Silverstein lines up $800M Deutsche loan for ABC complex buy

Silverstein Properties has lined up financing for one of the largest investment-sales deals of the year.

Deutsche Bank is providing about $800 million in financing toward the developer’s $1 billion purchase of the massive American Broadcasting Company headquarters on the Upper West Side, which is expected to close next week, sources told The Real Deal.

The deal is closing at a time when ABC’s parent company, Disney, is in the middle of a monster acquisition of 20th Century Fox. ABC’s complex of office buildings and studios runs along West 66th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, and includes the 22-story, 420,000-square-foot property at 77 West 66th Street.

Silverstein signed a soft contract in April and went hard on it several weeks later, sources said. Commercial Observer first reported that the deal went into contract.

The developer will likely demolish the existing buildings, but its plans were not immediately clear. Sources said the complex was marketed as both development opportunity for luxury residential condominiums or as a new office complex.

Demolition would not occur for at least a few more years, as the broadcaster is expected to lease the space back until a new headquarters is ready. Disney was reportedly considering a Trinity Church-owned development site at 4 Hudson Square that would allow for 1.2 million square feet.

Eastdil Secured is brokering the sale and the financing. Representatives for Silverstein and Eastdil declined to comment, and Disney could not be reached.

So far this year, the city has seen a handful of blockbuster investment-sales deals, including Google’s $2.4 billion purchase of the Chelsea Market building  and Maefield Development’s $1.53 billion buyout of its partners at 701 Seventh Avenue.

Silverstein recently bought the ground lease for a large Astoria dairy plant site, paving the way for the firm’s debut outer-borough development.