property is considered one of the most
sought-after Manhattan office addresses
due to the building’s amenities, and immediate access to eight subway lines via
a concourse level connection to Rockefeller Center. Behler also emphasizes
that the property’s “high-quality interior
and tenant build-outs”—which include
cafeterias, media rooms, executive dining rooms, a mock courtroom and multiple trading floors—reflect “the premium
quality of its current occupants,” including Wasserstein Perella Group Holdings,
Calyon and Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, and
make it “an extraordinarily desirable location for new tenants.”
Paramount Group represented itself in
the transaction. The property is one of
Macklowe Properties’ trophy assets that
was turned over to Deutsche Bank. The
seller was represented by Eastdil Secured LLC.
For Boston Properties, its purchase of
the 591,000-sf, 23-story office building at
125 W. 55th St., the 664,000-sf Two
Grand Central Tower and the 292,000-sf
540 Madison Ave. was part of a $3.95-bil-
lion agreement the REIT made to acquire those three buildings along with the
two-million-sf GM Building at 767 Fifth
Ave., which closed in June. That portfolio
purchase price included $1.47 billion in
cash, $10 million in stock and the assumption of about $2.5 billion in debt.
“The idea of a REIT like Boston Properties or any other REIT for that matter
stepping up to the plate and doing a deal
here is that they bring a lot to the table,”
Anthony Paolone, an analyst at JP Morgan, tells Real Estate New York. “They are
liquid, they are good operators, they
know the market, they know the assets
and they have the ability to underwrite
and close quickly on the transaction.”
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley
were Boston Properties’ financial advisors
on the deal, along with Lehman Brothers
and Deutsche Bank. Proskauer Rose LLP
and Goodwin Procter LLP are giving the
Boston-based REIT legal assistance.
Goodwin Procter partners Mark Kirshen-baum, Edward Glazer and Ettore Santucci
are advising on the tax and structuring issues related to the transaction.
RENY Insight
Merger Cements Firm’s Staying Power
As the rumored GVA Williams-Colliers deal
continues, and after the recent $630-million
Jones Lang LaSalle and Staubach Co.
union, the wave of mergers among real estate service firms is clearly continuing. Colliers Turley Martin Tucker formally revealed
that it, along with Colliers Pinkard and Cassidy & Pinkard Colliers, was consolidating
ownership structures into one holding company. Following the closing of this transaction, the new holding company will expand
to include locally based Colliers ABR, and
industry sources say that it puts Colliers
ABR in quite a good position.
When anonymous industry sources
were previously interviewed in a July story
about Colliers International—of which the
four companies are members—and GVA
Williams, they said that Colliers ABR would
be the main question mark in a potential
merger deal. “GVA Williams does export a
lot of corporate business, that is not Colliers ABR’s motivation,” one source said.
“The way Colliers International works is
that ABR is a franchisee and there is no
ownership link, so it would stand on its own
in New York.”
Industry sources now tell RENY that with
this recent merger news, the question is
nearly answered. The true motivation is most
likely that this merger cements ABR’s position
within Colliers International, one source says.
Another source notes that there is now
less risk for Colliers ABR to be isolated because it will now be part of the parent company. This merger makes sure that ABR is not
marginalized when a GVA Williams-Colliers
deal comes to fruition, the source says, which
Real Estate New York is told should be “near
the end of the month.”
The industry sources’ assessments were
largely confirmed by Mark Boisi, chairman
of Colliers ABR, in an interview with RENY.
“We think we will benefit from the capital
markets resources and talent base that
Cassidy & Pinkard has in Washington, DC,”
he says. “We’ll bring that expertise to New
York and build on our existing relationships
and theirs.”
Boisi notes that in DC, Cassidy & Pinkard
is “as formidable as some of our New York
brethren like Eastdil” are in this market.
“We’re in the middle of negotiating with two
groups within the New York marketplace to
embolden our efforts in capital markets investment sales financing. With their relationships and their know-how, we’ll be able
to grow that business line pretty dramatically
in New York.”
He says Colliers Turley Martin Tucker’s
expertise in the corporate services arena
“will very much enhance our ability to do
more corporate service here in New York
City. That’s one-stop shopping for major corporations, where you can provide a bundle
of services for transaction, project and facilities management.” Boisi adds that tenant representation, which ABR wants to do
more of, is also expected to grow. As for
what Colliers ABR brings to the group, Boisi
says, “We bring them the New York marketplace.” —Withreporting by Paul Bubny
1301 Ave. of the Americas
