Savanna Snags $510M to Refinance 5 Bryant Park

Savanna seemed to be running out of options on 5 Bryant Park, but has pulled out a major refinancing of the Midtown office tower.

The company secured $510 million to refinance the 683,000-square-foot office building, the Commercial Observer reported. King Street Capital Management and Blue Owl Capital originated the floating-rate loan.

An Eastdil Secured team including Rob Turner, Grant Frankel and Ethan Pond arranged the deal, which was first reported last month by PERE Credit.

The refinancing retires a $463 million commercial mortgage-backed securities loan.

The real estate investment firm previously missed a required balloon payment on the debt, which matured in June, according to CRED iQ. Savanna took out the loan to finance its acquisition of the property with a maturity date in June 2020; Savanna acquired the 34-story property from Blackstone in 2018 for $640 million.

The loan included five one-year extensions, each of which was exercised.

At the time of the missed payment, the loan was on a watchlist due to a decrease in net operating income. Savanna was then hoping to land a refinancing deal within 90 days, according to service commentary.

In addition to retiring the old debt, Savanna plans to use proceeds from the refinancing to build an amenity center and improve tenant spaces. The building is 80 percent leased today, but the landlord has its sights set on occupancy north of 95 percent next year.

Savanna’s been coping with its own distress while simultaneously continuing to make more bets on the office market.

In February, the company bought the leasehold on 430 West 15th Street in the Meatpacking District for $85 million, a sharp discount to the $159 million that Invesco had paid for the property in 2018.

And last November, Savanna bought the newly constructed office building at 799 Broadway for $255 million, after owner Columbia Property Trust had defaulted on its $270 million mortgage.

— Holden Walter-Warner