Gramercy Gains 50% Grasp on Ex-AT&T Campus

BRIDGEWATER, NJ-Gramercy Capital Corp. has acquired a 49.75% equity interest, with a .25% interest to be acquired later, in 55 Corporate Dr., a three-building, 670,000-sf office campus here. The property is fully net leased through April 2023 to pharma giant Sanofi-aventis, which is using the site as its US headquarters.

The New York City-based Gramercy, a commercial real estate specialty finance company, bought the half-interest from the Gale Co. and Principal Real Estate Investors. As reported by GlobeSt.com, Gale and PREI, back by SL Green Realty Corp., bought the former AT&T campus from the telecom giant in May 2005 in a sale-leaseback transaction for a reported $125 million, and in November inked Sanofi-aventis to a full-complex lease after signing a lease termination agreement with AT&T. Sanofi-aventis’ move-in, a consolidation of three locations, is under way and scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.

According to details released by Gramercy Capital, the share is held as a tenancy-in-common interest, with the remaining 50% held as a TIC interest by SL Green. The new venture obtained a 10-year, $190-million mortgage from Goldman Sachs Mortgage Co., after having previously retired a $91-million first mortgage that Gramercy bought in March from Wachovia Bank. The effective interest rate is approximately 5.75%, according to Gramercy officials, and the company invested some $23 million of equity in the venture, including the purchase price, transaction costs and future funding requirements.