Tishman Speyer Lands $3.5B To Refinance Rockefeller Center
Tishman Speyer has refinanced Rockefeller Center with a $3.5B CMBS loan in the largest issuance ever for a single office asset.
The debt will be used to pay off the 7.3M SF campus’s 20-year, $1.7B CMBS loan and mezzanine financing that was set to mature in May 2025 and will fund reserves for contractual leasing costs, Tishman Speyer said in an announcement Friday.
Bank of America and Wells Fargo served as co-lead managers on the five-year, single-asset, single-borrower loan with a fixed interest rate of approximately 6.2%.
“We are proud of our stewardship of Rockefeller Center,” Tishman Speyer CEO Rob Speyer said in a statement. “The lending market’s overwhelming response speaks volumes about the success of our redevelopment and their confidence in top performing assets.”
The 13-building campus is co-owned by Henry Crown & Co., the Crown family’s Chicago-based investment fund, and Tishman Speyer.
Rockefeller Center, a fixture of New York City, has offices, multilevel retail, private event spaces, dining and attractions, including the iconic Christmas tree lighting and ice skating rink every winter. It also opened a 24K SF park atop Radio City Music Hall.
The campus is home to FAO Schwarz, featured in films like Big, alongside other retail flagships, including Anthropologie, Nintendo and Lego. Its offices house headquarters for Deloitte and NBC.
In the last five years, Rockefeller Center’s owners have invested more than $400M in the campus to make it more tourist-friendly and less centered around office. Still, its net rental revenue fell to approximately $500M last year, $65M below 2019 levels, Crain's New York Business reported, citing KBRA.
The record loan is the strongest signal yet that the lending markets have loosened for commercial real estate assets, especially those considered prime properties with deep-pocketed sponsors.
