"At a time when many commercial property owners have faced difficulties in financing and refinancing their assets, we continue to access our relationship base to source value-add financings," SL Green president Andrew Mathias says in a release. The new five-year, floating-rate mortgage was provided by a syndicate led by the Bank of China and also including DekaBank and Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg; DekaBank led the group that provided the $215-million refi on 100 Park Ave. this past September.

Matthias adds that the 1515 Broadway refi follows recapitalizations of the Graybar Building at 420 Lexington Ave., 625 Madison Ave. and 1551-1555 Broadway, in addition to the 100 Park deal. "As we indicated at our recent investor conference, we were able to source this financing which required a lower equity contribution than previously forecast," he says in the release. EVP Robert Martin of CB Richard Ellis, together with Deutsche Bank's commercial real estate restructuring advisory practice, advised SL Green for the transaction.

SL Green acquired the 54-story office tower for $480 million in a joint venture with SITQ Immobilier in March 2002. It's undergoing a $40-million capital program that's expected to be completed this quarter.