RXR “Field Trip” Set in Hunt for 175 Park Investors

Permission slips in hand, the folks at RXR are decamping to One Vanderbilt on Wednesday in a recruiting effort for the developer’s 175 Park Avenue project.

JPMorgan invited its institutional investors in on Wednesday afternoon to be pitched on financing the office development set to replace the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Crain’s reported. Scott Rechler’s firm and its partner, TF Cornerstone, are projecting the development next to Grand Central Terminal could cost $6.5 billion. JPM reportedly described the meeting as a “field trip.”

The developers applied for $4.8 billion in federal loans to help fund the project, eligible to pull from a pot among other transportation-related projects seeking money for transit infrastructure. But they haven’t been awarded the money at this point.

The Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act and Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing programs offer projects low-cost financing and payback periods starting at 35 years. There was $30 billion in unused funds available around the time of the 175 Park application.

The 83-story, 2.9-million-square-foot development would be relatively unprecedented in scope and size, even compared to the 343 Madison Avenue project BXP has going next to the transportation hub. That development is 46 stories and 1 million square feet.

RXR and TFC were looking to secure an anchor tenant when it applied for the federal money, a development that would give lenders more insight into how the property may perform. There’s still no anchor tenant in place, though, despite a glaring need for a company to commit to at least a half-million square feet.

The developers opened a leasing gallery for the project in October 2023. In addition to 2.5 million square feet of office space, the development is set to include a 200-room Hyatt hotel and 10,000 square feet of retail space.

RXR and JPMorgan declined to comment on the meeting.

— Holden Walter-Warner