Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On August 31, 2017, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of five banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) — entered into a $1.5 billion USD senior syndicated construction loan agreement with an unspecified joint venture — jointly owned by Mitsui Fudosan America, Inc. (MFA), the New York City-headquartered U.S. subsidiary of MFA Holding, Inc., a New York-incorporated wholly-owned subsidiary of Japanese real estate company Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd. (90% equity stake), American real estate firm Related Companies, L.P., and Oxford Properties Group Inc., the global real estate of OMERS, the pension fund for municipal employees of Ontario, Canada (together 10% for Related and Oxford) — for the 50 Hudson Yards Project. This loan was secured by (i.e. collateralized against) a mortgage on 50 Hudson Yards. In addition to BOC, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: Wells Fargo Bank N.A., Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Bank, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). All five lenders served as Co-Lead Arrangers. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower to finance the $3.8 billion USD 50 Hudson Yards Project, which sought to construct a 2.9 million-gross square feet (GSF) (260,000 square meters) 58-story 985-feet tall commercial tower and office building spanning an entire block bound by West 34th Street to the north, West 33rd Street to the south, Tenth Avenue to the east, and Hudson Boulevard to the west in the $18 billion USD Hudson Yards neighborhood development on the west side of Manhattan, New York City, New York. 50 Hudson Yards had access points on all four of its sides and to the below subway concourse to No. 7 Subway and included on-site bike storage and concierge services, six floors with hundred foot lease spans to overlook Hudson Park & Boulevard, and (for certain tenants) private sky lobbies, outdoor terraces, an executive valet parking and drop off in a private porte-cochère. The tower was designed as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold building. The building was designed to house large enterprise tenants and trading and amenity spaces and smaller companies and organizations. Upon completion, 50 Hudson Yards would be the fourth largest commercial office tower in New York City and host BlackRock Inc. as anchor tenant under a 20-year lease. In addition to the bank debt, Related, Oxford and Mitsui Fudosan provided the balance of capital required for the project. At the time of announcement, it was the single most expensive office development in New York City history. Foster + Partners was responsible for design of the project. ArcelorMittal provided the steel components. R&R Scaffolding provided the Building Maintenance Units (BMU) equipment. Langan Engineering was the civil and environmental engineer. WSP was the structural and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineer. Site work had commenced by early September 2017 with vertical construction scheduled to begin fall 2017 and the whole building to be completed in 2022. Construction began in November 2017. The building was formally opened on October 19, 2022. In September 2022, Wells Fargo Bank provided a $348.8 million USD rehab construction loan associated with the $1.5 billion USD loan.
Staff comments
1. The individual contributions of the five lenders to this $1.5 billion USD syndicated loan are unknown. Therefore, to estimate BOC's contribution, AidData assumes that each lender contributed equally ($300,000,000 USD) to the loan syndicate. 2. 50 HYMC Owner LLC may have been the name of the special purpose vehicle borrower for this loan, as Related and Oxford borrowed through it for a supporting loan in September 2022. This issue merits further investigation.