Tishman Speyer picks up Pfizer as anchor tenant for Spiral, lands mammoth construction loan

Tishman Speyer has officially landed its anchor tenant for its $3.7 billion Hudson Yards office tower, and it comes with one of the largest construction financing deals in history.

The developer announced Tuesday morning that the pharmaceutical company Pfizer inked a 20-year-lease for 800,000 square feet at the Spiral, which will allow construction at 66 Hudson Boulevard to begin in June. Pfizer will occupy floors 7 through 21 in the 2.8-million-square-foot tower.

     Related: David Werner buying Pfizer’s Midtown HQ for $360M

In conjunction with the Pfizer lease, Tishman Speyer said it locked down a $1.8 billion construction loan from private equity shop Blackstone, in what is one of the largest — if not the largest — construction financing deals ever done in Manhattan.

In addition to the $1.8 billion mortgage from Blackstone, Tishman Speyer said it would put $1.9 billion in equity into the development. The developer was rumored to be in search of a construction loan of approximately $1.5 billion.

Reached for comment, company CEO Rob Speyer told The Real Deal that the $1.8 billion loan comes entirely from Blackstone, with no other lenders contributing to the total. The deal took less than 60 days to put together, he said. “We shook hands with them in February, so it was quick.”

In October, Tishman Speyer completed the last of its air rights purchases needed to legally build 2.8 million square feet under area zoning regulations. The company spent $438 million to acquire the parcels in 2014.

Architecture shop Bjarke Ingles Group is designing the glass-facade office tower, which is scheduled to be completed by 2022. One of Tishman Speyer’s backers is embattled Chinese company HNA Group, which invested an undisclosed sum in 2017.

Nearby at 50 Hudson Yards, Related Companies closed on the largest construction loan of 2017, when it received a $1.5 billion loan to build the upcoming $4 billion office tower.