Almost two years after entering contract to acquire 1440 Broadway, New York REIT closed on $325 million in financing for the Midtown office building.
The real estate investment trust bought the 25-story, 756,000-square-foot property, located near Times Square, from the Rockpoint Group and Monday Properties for $528.7 million in 2013, as The Real Deal reported.
The building’s tenants include Macy’s, which extended to an 11-year, roughly 200,000-square-foot lease in 2012, as well as clothing retailer Gap and pharmacy CVS.
It’s been a busy couple of months for New York REIT, which acquired 1440 Broadway when still under the control of Nicholas Schorsch’s American Realty Capital.
The REIT was among the AR Capital assets acquired in August by investment firm Apollo Global Management, which recently announced a series of moves at New York REIT including shuffling the board of directors and tapping Eastdil Secured to advise on “potential strategic transactions” that may include a sale of the company.
New York REIT has faced mounting shareholder criticism of the company’s direction since two separate shareholders sent open letters to management in June. The Michael Happel-led REIT responded by announcing a $150 million share buyback plan and the marketing of “non-core” assets.
But another open letter by investor Jonathan Litt last week expressed more concerns, leading Apollo to appoint its co-founder Marc Rowan to the New York REIT board and start a search for an additional two independent directors. — Rey Mashayekhi