Brookfield completes $2B in refinancings, to sell stake in One New York Plaza

Brookfield Property Partners completed $2 billion in refinancings in the first quarter, including a $900 million deal to Refinance 225 Liberty Street in Lower Manhattan, the firm said in a first quarter earnings call Friday.

The loan, which came from a consortium of banks including Citi, Wells Fargo, and Deutsche Bank, replaced an existing loan of $340 million that matured in the first quarter, a spokesperson told The Real Deal. The new loan has a fixed rate of 4.66 percent for a 10-year term.

The company also refinanced office tower One New York Plaza with a $750 million loan from Wells Fargo, replacing a $400 million commercial mortgage-backed security (CMBS) loan issued by Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs in 2006 to the building’s prior owner, Trizec Properties.

Meanwhile, Brookfield continues to sell off some of its prime trophy assets and is in the process of selling a non-controlling interest in One New York Plaza for an undisclosed sum.

A spokesperson for the company declined to comment on the buyer or sales price. The tower, at 1 Water Street, has 2.59 million square feet. Tenants include investment bank Morgan Stanley, which takes up about 1.2 million square feet, and law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.

At Manhattan West, Brookfield’s major mixed-use development on the west side, the firm is in discussions with eight separate tenants for 3 million square feet of space, it said. The Qatar Investment Authority acquired a 44-percent stake in the five-building, $8.6 billion project last year.

Asked if the firm was bidding  on the redevelopment of Penn Station and the James A. Farley Post Office in Midtown West, Brookfield’s Ric Clark said the company was “not a disinterested party,” but declined to comment on any specific involvement in the bidding process.