$319M Buys 95% Interest in Warner Building

WASHINGTON, DC-Complete ownership of the 560,000-sf Warner Building now belongs to Vornado Realty Trust. The Paramus, NJ-based REIT has just purchased the remaining 95% interest in the trophy facility in a $319-million transaction. The deal involved Vornado’s shelling out of $170 million in cash, as well as the assumption of $136 million in mortgage debt on the building and an additional $13 million in remaining debt. The company has a 15.9-million-sf office portfolio in the area.

Vornado came into possession of 5% of the Warner Building two years ago after having acquired real estate firm Kaempfer Co. Kaempfer had purchased the Warner Building along with real Landesbank Hessen-Thringen Girozentrale estate fund affiliate DIV Deutsche Immobilienfonds Verwaltungsgesellschaft fr Grundbesitzanlagen mbH in 2000 for approximately $223 million. The mortgage bears interest at 7.8% and is due in May 2010. The building is currently 93% leased.