SL Green Realty closed on a $1.5 billion construction loan for its $3.1 billion office development One Vanderbilt, the real estate investment trust announced Wednesday.
Wells Fargo leads the syndicate, which also includes The Bank of New York Mellon, JP Morgan Chase, TD Bank and Bank of China.
Landing a loan clears one major hurdle in the way of the 1,401-foot tall, 1.6 million-square-foot office tower set to rise next to Grand Central terminal. Another fell in August, when the REIT settled a lawsuit by the owner of Grand Central.
“Closing on the construction financing means that nothing stands in the way of One Vanderbilt becoming an iconic addition to the Manhattan skyline,” SL Green’s [TRDataCustom] managing director Robert Schiffer said in a statement.
On top of the loan, SL Green plans to fund the project with $1.64 billion in equity, CEO Marc Holliday said in June.
One of the lenders, TD Bank, also happens to be the building’s anchor tenant with a lease for 200,000 square feet.
In exchange for a rezoning that allows the tower to rise to its planned height, SL Green will have to invest $220 million in public infrastructure improvements. — Konrad Putzier