Bank of China provides a $775 million USD loan for the 1515 Broadway 2012 Refinancing Project

Project narrative

On December 23, 2009, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of at least three banks — led by the Bank of China (BOC) and including Dekabank and Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW), with other banks involved — entered into a $475 million USD syndicated loan agreement with 1515 Broadway Owner LLC — a Delaware-incorporated special purpose vehicle and a joint venture partnership owned by SL Green Realty Corp., a Maryland-incorporated New York Stock Exchange-listed real estate investment trust focused on Manhattan and Manhattan's largest office landlord (55.00% ownership interest; 68.45% economic ownership) and SITQ Immobilier Inc., a Canadian real estate investment, management and development firm and subsidiary of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), Canadian crown corporation and investor (45.00% ownership interest; 31.55% economic ownership) — for the 1515 Broadway 2009 Refinancing Project. This loan carried a maturity period of five years, a final maturity date in December 2014, and an interest rate based on LIBOR plus a margin of 304 basis points (bps). This loan was secured by (i.e. collateralized against) a mortgage on 1515 Broadway and an assignment of related leases. BOC took a mezzanine position, while Deka and LBBW had stakes in the senior mortgage. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower to replace and repay an existing $625 million USD mortgage due to mature in November 2010 on 1515 Broadway, also known as One Astor Plaza, a 54-story 1.66 million-square foot Class A office building located in Times Square between West 44th and 45th Streets in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York, including 1.6 million square feet. of office space, 30,945 square feet of retail space, and 146,239 square. feet of theater space housing the Minskoff Theater, a 72,355-square foot parking garage, and two LED display screens measuring 48 feet by 38 feet. BOC reportedly contributed around half ($237,500,000 USD) of the $475 million USD loan. Record ID# captures BOC's contribution. SL Green arranged the loan. As of December 31, 2010, $462,896,000 USD was outstanding under the loan. In April 2011, SL Green purchased the entirety of SITQ's interest in 1515 Broadway, making SL Green the whole owner of the special purpose vehicle owner of the building. As of December 31, 2011, $450,363,000 USD was outstanding under the loan. Then, in April 2012, BOC entered into a $775.0 million USD loan agreement with 1515 Broadway Owner LLC for the 1515 Broadway 2012 Refinancing Project. This loan carried a maturity period of seven years and an interest rate that was variable, being the greater of either 3.6% per annum or 90-day (3-month) LIBOR plus a margin of 285 bps. This loan was secured by a first mortgage on 1515 Broadway and an assignment of related leases. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower to replace and refinance the $447.2 million USD outstanding of the 2009 loan and for the general corporate purposes of the borrower. HFF brokered the loan. Record ID# captures BOC's contribution to the loan. As of December 31, 2012, $462,896,000 USD was outstanding under the loan. Then, on February 19, 2013 it was announced that a syndicate of three banks — BOC, German American Capital Corp. (a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank AG), and Goldman Sachs Mortgage Co. — entered into a $900.0 million USD syndicated loan agreement with 1515 Broadway Owner LLC for the 1515 Broadway 2013 Refinancing Project. This loan carried a maturity period of 12 years, was interest-only for its first 36 months (a grace period of three years) and then had a 30-year amortization schedule, and a final maturity date of March 6, 2025 and a fixed interest rate of 3.93375%. This loan was secured by a mortgage on 1515 Broadway and an assignment of related leases. SL Green issued a guarantee for this loan. The borrower was required to establish a lockbox account and a cash management account in tits name for the lender's benefit, with tenants deposit rents and other revenues deposited into the lockbox account, and then swept into the cash management account daily, and so long as a trigger event (such as the Debt Service Coverage Ratio falling below 1.20x at the end of any calendar year, if Viacom went bankrupt or terminated certain portions of the lease of 1515 Broadway, or the borrower failed to satisfy free rent reserve requirements as part of its lease with Viacom) or event of default did not occur, the lender would deposit the amounts in the cash management account into the borrower's operating account. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower to replace and refinance the $775 million USD 2012 loan, leading to a net loss on early extinguishment of debt of approximately $18.5 million USD, including a prepayment penalty of $7.6 million USD but giving $116 million USD in cash to SL Green. The lenders then sought to issue commercial-mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) for the debt on the property. Record ID#106692 captures BOC's contribution to the $900 million USD syndicated loan. As of December 31, 2013, $900,000,000 USD was outstanding under the loan. As of December 31, 2014, $900,000,000 USD was outstanding under the loan. As of December 31, 2015, $900,000,000 USD was outstanding under the loan. As of December 31, 2016, $888,531,000 USD was outstanding under the loan. In November 2017, SL Green sold a 30.13% interest in 1515 Broadway to affiliates of Allianz Real Estate. As of December 31, 2017, $872,528,000 USD was outstanding under the loan. Then, in January 2018, it sold another 12.87% interest in the property to Allianz, though officially SL Green had a 56.87% stake and Allianz had a 43.13% stake. As of December 31, 2018, $855,876,000 USD was outstanding under the loan. As of December 31, 2019, $838,546,000 USD was outstanding under the loan. As of December 31, 2020, $820,607,000 USD was outstanding under the loan. As of December 31, 2021, $801,845,000 USD was outstanding under the loan. As of December 31, 2022, $782,321,000 USD was outstanding under the loan. As of December 31, 2023, $762,002,000 USD was outstanding under the loan. On November 20, 2024, it was announced that the lending syndicate entered into a modification and extension agreement for $742.8 million USD of the outstanding debt of the $900 million USD mortgage; in the amendment, the lenders extended the maturity period by three years — for a new maturity period of 15 years — to March 2028. The loan had fallen into special servicing due to imminent maturity default earlier in November 2024, though SL Green was current on mortgage payments and the building revenue covered debt service. SL Green stated that the extension would give it time to try and win a gaming license to turn the property into the Caesars Palace Times Square, a casino. Record ID#106693 captures the debt rescheduling.