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Saudi conglomerate The Olayan Group closed on its purchase of the Sony Building for $1.4B, with help from a $570M loan from ING Capital.
The short-term loan is secured by a first mortgage on the property at 550 Madison Ave.
“ING committed the bridge facility very quickly at attractive terms so that this deal could conclude within a very tight time frame,” Olayan CFO Nadim Tabbara says.
Olayan agreed to buy the 37-story, 850k SF mixed-use tower from the Chetrit Group and Clipper Capital back in April.
Chetrit bought the building with the intention of turning its upper-floor office space into luxury condos, including a 22k SF, $150M penthouse that would’ve been the second-priciest home in the nation had it been completed. The plan never got off the ground, however, which is probably for the best, considering New York’s supposedly tanking ultra-luxe market.
Because of Chetrit’s plans to convert the space into condos, the building is completely vacant other than the 5,000 SF Prime Grill kosher steakhouse. Olayan plans to renovate the building and lease it out as prime office space, a first for a building that was previously leased entirely by single large firms like AT&T and Sony.
“The property has been maintained to a high standard and has never previously been available to the open market for office leasing,” says Tony Fusco, Olayan’s head of real estate.
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