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NEW YORK CITY-SL Green Realty Corp. and SITQ, a subsidiary of the Caisse de depot et placement du Québec, take a $625-million recapitalization of 1515 Broadway. SL Green will use its proceeds to repay its unsecured credit facility and to increase its economic stake in the site from 55% to 68.5%. Other funds will go toward general corporate purposes. The joint venture, which acquired the property in May 2002 for $484 million or $276 per sf, had the site appraised for approximately $1 billion. The group has obtained a three-year loan bearing interest at Libor plus 90 basis points from Lehman Brothers and Wachovia Bank, the existing lenders.

Located Times Square, the 1.75-million-sf 1515 Broadway is the home of Viacom International and subsidiaries Paramount Pictures, Showtime Networks, Infinity Broadcasting and MTV. The partnership repositioned and upgraded the ground-floor retail, to include AEG Live's Nokia Theatre, Bank of America and Billabong. In addition, the venture leased or renewed over 207,000 sf of office space bringing the building's occupancy to 100%.

Marc Holliday, president & chief executive officer of SL Green, says the firm intends to continue capitalizing on "such opportunities in sectors and locations where we have superior market knowledge and where we have developed strong working relationships with partners who can help us attain the best results. Our business plan emphasizes 'Growth by Design' and we have again demonstrated our ability to deliver on that."