Columbia Property Trust signs online mortgage lender at 799 Broadway

12-story boutique office building set to open in coming weeks

Nelson Mills (CEO & Director, Columbia Property Trust), render of 799 Broadway (columbia.reit, NYC799broadwaynyc.com)
Nelson Mills (CEO & Director, Columbia Property Trust), render of 799 Broadway (columbia.reit, NYC799broadwaynyc.com)

Columbia Property Trust’s boutique office building in Greenwich Village is looking to open in about a month’s time and its first tenant is set to join them.

Newrez, a mortgage lending and servicing firm, is leasing two entire floors in the building at 799 Broadway and 11th Street, according to the New York Post. The firm — owned by New Residential Investment Corp. — signed on for 25,000 square feet indoors and four outdoor terraces totaling 2,700 square feet.

It’s not clear how much Newrez is paying for its slice of the 182,000-square-foot office building. The Post reports asking rents in the building range from $150 to $220 per square foot. The St. Denis Hotel previously stood at the site before the office development popped up.

Newrez’s current office is located at 1345 Sixth Avenue. When it moves to the Perkins & Will-designed 799 Broadway, it will have access to amenities including a communal garden, gym, lounge and bike room.

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Normandy Real Estate Partners and Columbia Property Trust finalized a $300 million joint venture for the building’s development in 2018, landing a $187 million construction loan from Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance. Columbia Property Trust closed on its 50 percent stake from Ares Management at a $142.5 million value.

The building was expected to be completed last summer. The target for rents at the time of the project’s finalization was $140 to $160 per square foot, meaning the asking price didn’t take a hit despite the drastically altered office market.

Months after the development was finalized, Columbia Property Trust agreed to buy Normandy in a deal worth close to $100 million. Columbia Property Trust is set to be acquired by PIMCO for a deal valued around $2.2 billion, valued even higher at $3.9 billion when including debt.

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