taking over leasing and management at 100 Church St., SL Green Realty Corp. said Thursday that it is now the sole owner of the 21-story Downtown office property. The REIT had foreclosed this past autumn on the senior mezzanine loan for 100 Church after the property's then-owner, the Sapir Organization, failed to make payments on $85 million in mezz cash it had borrowed from S.L. Green and Gramercy Capital.

S.L. Green says in a release that at the closing of the foreclosure, it funded additional capital as part of an agreement with Wachovia Bank to extend and restructure the existing financing for a new four-year term. Gramercy transferred its interest in the investment to S.L. Green, the release states.

In a conference call this past October, Andrew Mathias, S.L. Green's president and CIO, said taking beneficial ownership of 100 Church would mean a leasing assignment of 600,000 square feet, or 58% of its 1.05-million-square-foot capacity. "We're very confident our leasing team is up to the challenge," Mathias said at the time.

In Thursday's announcement, Mathias comments that his company "has a long track record of successfully leasing up previously-underperforming properties. We view this as a great opportunity to once again demonstrate the success of our targeted leasing and repositioning capabilities." A Newmark Knight Frank team led by president James Kuhn and EVP Brian Waterman has a leasing program for 100 Church under way, the release states. SL Green also plans an extensive lobby renovation and other property improvements at the building, which dates from 1958 and has been largely vacant since 9/11.