Savanna Begins $65M Acquisition, Re-Development of Downtown NYC’s 80 Broad St.

September 22, 2011
By Nicholas Ziegler, News Editor

Downtown Manhattan’s ascendancy, while centered on rising World Trade Center site, has been taken up by the surrounding streets as well. To that end, 80 Broad St., near the southern tip of New York City, was just purchased by Savanna, a NYC-based real estate private-equity and asset-management firm.

The acquisition of the 36-story, 417,000-square-foot office tower was funded by Savanna’s simultaneous closing on a $65.3 million loan provided by Mesa West Capital. The loan, while primarily funding the property’s purchase, will also be used for a significant capital-improvement campaign on the building’s tenant spaces. Due to the extensive nature of the changes, Savanna is taking the building off the rental market until improvements are completed, which is slated for the first quarter of 2012.

“80 Broad Street represents a thoughtfulness of design and quality of building that is characteristic of this prime downtown location,” Shep Wainwright, managing director at Savanna, said. “We want to make a strong statement that we’re dedicated to this asset and to providing reliable and comprehensive services and as such have decided to remove the building from the market.”

A Jones Lang LaSalle research report predicted the transformation of existing structures into modern, Class A facilities to keep pace with the rapid construction in and around the WTC site. “Combined with the removal of nearly 7 million square feet of older stock, either through demolition or conversion, Lower Manhattan will boast a much newer inventory of office buildings within five years,” the report said.

80 Broad St., built in 1930, is certainly one of those buildings. Following the capital-improvement plan, approximately 125,000 square feet of space will be available for lease.

The re-leasing plans will be handled by Newmark Knight Frank. Estreich & Co. represented the building’s ownership in the financing.