Bank of China Joins $1.5B Consortium Funding $3.1B NYC Project

The Chinese investment surge in Manhattan continues, as Bank of China has been announced among the partners that will provide a $1.5 billion construction loan for a new office tower that will rise above the neighboring Empire State Building.

The Kohn Pedersen Fox-designed One Vanderbilt, will rise adjacent to Manhattan’s famed Grand Central Terminal, and is the latest US developer project in the city to receive help from Chinese financial backers.

BOC Joins Consortium Backing SL Green Project

The state-owned top four mainland bank is providing the $1.5 billion loan together with Mellon Bank, Bank of New York, JP Morgan Chase, TD Bank and Wells Fargo to a development consortium helmed by New York-builder SL Green Realty, with all financial partners reported to be regarded as co-leads.

Loan structure specifics for were not available, although it was reported to be a five-year term which is expected to close by the end of this summer. Construction of the 58-storey complex is anticipated to begin in the fall of this year and be completed by 2020.

One Vanderbilt is projected to rise more than 1,400 feet (427 metres) above the sidewalk and will occupy a full city block from East 42^nd Street to East 43^rd Street between Madison and Vanderbilt Avenues, a site now occupied by older commercial buildings that are already being torn down in anticipation of the new construction.

The overall construction budget is pegged at more than $3.1 billion by Tishman Construction, which will manage the build.

Chinese Playing a Growing Role in NYC Development Finance

The Bank of China involvement is just major investment by Chinese financial institutions in New York development projects as mainland banks look for opportunities in America’s largest real estate market.

Just one year ago Taiping Asset Management, an offshore subsidiary of one of the country’s biggest insurance firms, paid $229 million for an undisclosed equity stake in  the 58-storey 111 Murray Street condo project being developed by Steve Witkoff in New York’s Tribeca area.

More recently, China Orient Asset Management (International), a Hong Kong-based subsidiary of Beijing’s China Orient Asset Management, in April paid $216 million for a 49 percent stake in 61 Broadway, a 33-storey building being developed by New York-based RXR Realty.

Bank of China has been among the leading lenders to New York’s developers in recent months, having provided a $313.5 million loan to a US consortium renovating a 15-story building at 63 Madison Avenue in Manhattan. BOC also lent $50.7 million for the W New York Downtown Hotel and Residences in Lower Manhattan.

Bank of China, which is the world’s fourth-largest bank by assets, has also invested directly in New York, purchasing the 7 Bryant Park office tower in Manhattan during late 2014 for nearly $600 million.