Deutsche Bank Center’s $1.1B CMBS deal tops Manhattan loans

Lenders made another billion-dollar bet on the Manhattan market office in November, the latest vote of confidence in the borough’s top-tier towers. Deutsche Bank Center landed the month’s marquee deal, a $1.1 billion CMBS loan from German American Capital Corporation and Wells Fargo. The fully leased Lincoln Square office tower is owned by a joint venture that includes Related Companies and sovereign wealth funds from Singapore and Abu Dhabi. Deutsche Bank occupies more than 93 percent of the former Time Warner Center under a 20-year lease.

Elsewhere in the borough, lenders doled out dollars to apartments, specialty medical buildings and student housing. Vanbarton Group’s Midtown South apartment tower, which recently absorbed former WeWork floors for residential use, landed a $280 million loan. Aire, a 43-story Upper West Side rental tower owned by Gotham Organization and Carlyle, landed a $260 million refinance. And Nordic Trustee provided $245 million for the New York Proton Center in East Harlem. Rounding out the month, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo backed a $167 million CMBS loan tied to a hotel-to-dorm conversion at 525 Lexington Avenue, part of a larger student housing package spanning New York and Boston.

Here are more details.

Deutsche Deal | $1.1B | Upper West Side

German American Capital Corporation and Wells Fargo originated a $1.1 billion CMBS loan for Deutsche Bank Center, owned by a joint venture that includes Related Companies and sovereign wealth funds from Singapore and Abu Dhabi. The floating-rate, interest-only loan refinances existing debt on the 1.1 million-square-foot office tower at 60 Columbus Circle and covers roughly two-thirds of its $1.65 billion appraised value, Bisnow reported. Deutsche Bank, which relocated its U.S. headquarters to the tower from Wall Street in 2021, occupies 93.5 percent of the building under a 20-year lease with an option to renew for another two decades. The property – formerly the Time Warner Center before the media giant decamped to Hudson Yards – is fully leased.

Fresh Aire | $260M | Upper West Side

Natixis provided a $260 million loan to refinance Aire, a 43-story Upper West Side apartment tower owned by a joint venture of Gotham Organization and the Carlyle Group. The refinancing at 200 West 67th Street will go toward apartment renovations, as well as updates to the amenities. Carlyle and Gotham snapped up the 310-unit building in 2024 for $265 million from A&R Kalimian Realty, which was forced to sell after being unable to repay a $225 million CMBS loan due to the expiration of the 421a tax break. The fresh financing replaced a $216 million bridge loan from MF1 Capital.

Vanbarton bucks | $280M | Midtown South

Invesco Real Estate provided a $280 million loan to refinance Vanbarton Group’s Sixth Avenue apartment tower, where the developer recently converted several former WeWork office floors into apartments. Vanbarton bought the property at 980 Sixth Avenue in 2018 for $316 million. The 25-story building, just north of Herald Square between West 36th and West 37th streets, already had 380 rental apartments above the former co-working space and retail on the ground floor. The new loan replaces a $273 million one from Blackstone’s mortgage trust.

Proton payday | $245M | East Harlem

Nordic Trustee, an Oslo-based bond trustee, provided a $245 million loan for the proton therapy center at 225 East 126th Street. The financing for the New York Proton Center, owned by an affiliate of Murphy & McManus, replaced a $150 million loan from Nomura Holdings. Murphy & McManus developed the 139,000-square-foot specialty medical building for a partnership between Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Montefiore Health System and Mount Sinai Health System, which leases the building. It opened in August 2019.

Dorm dollars | $167M | Midtown East

Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo provided a $167 million CMBS loan for a hotel-dormitory owned by Värde Partners and Hawkins Way Capital’s hotel-to-dormitory conversion at 525 Lexington Avenue. The deal is part of a $431 million loan package for a three-building student housing portfolio in New York City and Boston, according to Morningstar. The two-year, interest-only note has three one-year extension options. Hawkins Way and Värde purchased the shuttered Marriott in 2023 from German investment firm Deka Immobilien $153.4 million for the 655-key property — a little more than half the $270 million Deka paid for it in 2015. The 34-story building provides 1,355 beds for students from multiple New York City universities and colleges.