NEW YORK CITY—Heirs of Cornelius Vanderbilt III—the patriarch of the famous Vanderbilt family and the builder of 501 Madison Ave.—have refinanced the property for $80 million. The Singer & Bassuk Organization, which arranged the financing, made the announcement.
In a complex arrangement, the family swapped an existing $60 million construction loan with AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co. for the $80 million permanent financing—likely gaining a bit of profit in the process, according to the Commercial Oberserver.
The loan is the last phase of a three-part series of interim, construction and permanent financings—which SBO first started to arrange in 2013—that aggregate to more than $160 million for the 200,000-square-foot asset, which recently underwent a renovation and lease up.
“The transformative renovations, complemented by the property's 'triple-A' location and rich history, have elevated 501 Madison Avenue to Class-A status within the highest echelon of Manhattan's most coveted pre-war commercial spaces,” says Andrew Singer, chairman and CEO of SBO.
The land under the Plaza District property has been owned Cornelius Vanderbilt III's descendants since 1929. Soon after acquiring the 30-story office and retail property, the family entered into a long-term ground lease with a developer who created the building.
The leasehold changed hands several times before expiring in 2013, at which time the family members chose to take on building operations instead of entering into a new ground lease.
Located at the northeast corner of 52nd Street, 501 Madison Avenue is nearly 100% leased. Tenants include Carlo Pazolini, Oscar Heyan, Randi Rahm, Innisfree M&A, the World Jewish Congress Foundation and more.
The property includes floor plates ranging from 1,826 to 8,938 square feet, with German apparel company Porsche Design occupying the ground-floor retail space as its flagship location.
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
