BXP, Delaware North Secure $465M Refi of Boston Development

BXP signed a major refinancing deal that hits close to the firm’s former moniker.

BXP and Delaware North secured a $465 million refinancing loan for a portion of the Hub on Causeway in Boston, Commercial Property Executive reported. News of the financing deal for 100 Causeway Street — which was completed in 2021 — first emerged in a Fitch Ratings report.

A conglomerate including Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley issued the loan, a 5.5-year fixed-rate, interest-only mortgage note. Proceeds will go towards repaying $490 million in existing debt; the developers are chipping in $35 million in equity.

The portions of the property being refinanced include the seven-story, 210,000-square-foot retail podium and the 31-story, 842,000-square-foot office building. The office part of the property is 98 percent leased, featuring tenants such as Verizon — which leases 439,000 square feet but subleases a majority — Star Market and the Boston Celtics.

Portions of the property not tied to the mortgage note include 440 luxury residential units, a 272-key boutique hotel and TD Garden Arena, where the Celtics play.

Last month, BXP slashed its quarterly dividend by 30 percent, from 98 cents to 70 cents per share, to help finance the $2 billion 343 Madison Avenue office tower in Manhattan, a move expected to save the company $50 million per quarter.

The developer is seeking a partner for the 1 million-square-foot project attached to Grand Central Terminal after Norges Bank backed out of a previous partnership.

Delaware North is a Buffalo-based casino and hospitality company, which employed New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s husband as general counsel from 2016 until last summer.

Elsewhere in Boston, the RMR Group secured a $1 billion refinancing for Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ Boston Seaport headquarters in August, a five-year, interest-only, fixed-rate loan with a weighted average interest rate of 5.6 percent.

— Holden Walter-Warner