Paramount Inks New Leases at Manhattan Trophy Tower

1301 Avenue of the Americas. Image via Google Street View

One month after completing an $860 million refinancing, Paramount Group Inc., owner of the 1.7 million-square-foot Class A office building at 1301 Avenue of the Americas, has announced two leases totaling 279,000 square feet.

Credit Agricole CIB, a global corporate and investment bank which has had its Americas headquarters at the building for many years, signed a new lease for 167,000 square feet. In November 2011, Credit Agricole had renewed about 350,000 square feet of space in a 10-year lease, Commercial Observer reported at the time.

The second lease is a 112,000-square-foot renewal and expansion with SVB Leerink, an investment bank specializing in health care and life sciences.

READ ALSO: Economist’s View: Why Those Who Predicted CBD Flight Will Be Surprised

The signing of the leases backfills approximately 190,000 square feet of vacancy on floors six, eight and nine. Completed in 1965, the 45-story tower between 52nd and 53rd streets in Midtown Manhattan was 71.5 percent leased as of June 30.

Peter Brindley, executive vice president, head of real estate at Paramount, said in a prepared statement the office REIT remains focused on leasing the remaining availability at the building. He said approximately 269,500 square feet of contiguous space on floors two through five was available. Paramount has been seeking to fill the nearly 500,000 square feet of space left vacant earlier this year when Barclays relocated to Hudson Square.

Brindley called the new deals “significant commitments by discerning and high-quality tenants,” adding that they demonstrated the importance of the building’s central location and superior property attributes.

The LEED Gold-certified building, which has a newly renovated lobby, has approximately 30,000 square feet of ground floor and concourse level retail space. The building also provides lower-level access to Rockefeller Center with numerous stores, restaurants and subway connections. It also has views of Central Park and other Midtown landmarks. Tenants include Swiss Re, Arent Fox, Rubenstein Public Relations, Oaktree Capital Management, CohnReznick and Norton Rose Fulbright.

Recent refinancing

In early August, Paramount refinanced the trophy property for $860 million with a new five-year interest-only loan that has an initial weighted average interest rate of 2.96 percent and consists of a $500 million tranche bearing interest at a fixed rate of 3.11 percent and a $360 million tranche that bears interest at a variable rate of LIBOR plus 2.65 percent. Commercial Observer later reported the lenders were Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley, with each lender providing $430 million in debt that consisted of a $355 million first mortgage loan and $75 million mezzanine loan. The proceeds were used to repay the existing $850 million loan provided by AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co. that was scheduled to mature in November.