Bank of China Executes $250M Loan for 3 Columbus

NEW YORK CITY-After a long battle over the former Newsweek office at 1775 Broadway, the Bank of China Ltd. agreed to a five-year $250 million mortgage loan for the refinancing of 3 Columbus Circle south of Central Park, SL Green Realty Corp. says. The deal—a repayment of the acquisition bridge loan that was originated in January 2011 by SL Green and Deutsche Bank—includes an earn-out option that increases the loan up to $300 million “upon achievement of certain performance thresholds,” according to a statement from SL Green.

The refinancing announcement comes three months after developer the Moinian Group and SL Green announced a joint partnership upon the recapitalization of the 26-story, 768,565-square-foot office tower in January 2011. Moinian, owner of 20 million square feet of commercial office, residential and hotel property nationwide, planned to reposition the vacant property at Broadway and Eighth Avenue between 57th and 58th streets as class A office space.