New York, NY, February 1, 2008 – GE Real Estate announced today it provided a $16.5 million on-book loan to Abbey Road Advisors, LLC and Guardian Life Insurance Company of America for the acquisition of a Class A- office building located in Valhalla, NY in Westchester County. The three-story, 98,026 square feet building is one of five subdivided lots totaling 27 acres, all of which were included in the acquisition.
The property’s largest tenant is the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, which occupies more than half of its square footage through May 2024. Abbey Road Advisors plans to take advantage of improving rents and vacancy rates in the Westchester office market and re-lease some recently vacated spaces at market rents.
Built in 1986, the office building is located at 465 on Columbus Avenue, a main thoroughfare for most of the local bus-lines. It also is close to the Mount Pleasant Metro-North Station and the Westchester County Medical Hospital, which presents an opportunity to lease space to medical office tenants.
This is the first transaction between GE Real Estate and Abbey Road Advisors, which was established in 2003 to provide commercial real estate investment opportunities for institutional and individual investors.
"We wanted to work with a lender with a strong balance sheet, and the GE team structured and executed a deal for this quality asset in an improving office market,” said Mark Keeney a partner at Abbey Road Advisors. “We were impressed by GE’s ability to provide the certainty of execution that has become even more critical to success in today’s volatile environment. We would welcome the chance to again collaborate on other value-driven investment opportunities.”
"Abbey Road Advisors has a solid track record with considerable expertise in the Northeast and in particular with deals that offer significant value creation opportunities,” said David Cohen, regional director, Northeast for GE Real Estate’s North America Lending division. “We appreciate the opportunity to meet its financing needs and look forward to growing our relationship."
Frank Petz of the Eastdil Secured - Boston office placed and structured both the debt and equity on this transaction.
GE Real Estate’s North America Lending division offers financing for retail, industrial, self-storage, multifamily, office, student housing, regional malls and outlet centers. North America Lending is also a provider of financing solutions for niche asset classes including affordable housing, golf, hospitality, vacation ownership, manufactured home communities and RV resorts.
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About GE Real Estate
GE Real Estate (
www.gerealestate.com) is one of the world's premier commercial real estate companies with more than US$79 billion in assets and a presence in 32 countries throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia/New Zealand. Backed by GE's AAA rating, GE Real Estate offers a comprehensive range of capital and investment solutions including equity capital for acquisition or development, as well as fixed and floating rate mortgages for new acquisitions or re-capitalizations of commercial real estate. With a 28% compound annual growth rate since 1993, GE Real Estate is one of the world's fastest growing and most profitable real estate enterprises. This extraordinary record of success grows out of a reputation for collaboration and partnership; a depth of knowledge and experience and a history of building relationships, finding opportunities and opening doors for more than 5,000 owners, builders, borrowers and brokers worldwide.
GE Commercial Finance (
www.gecommercialfinance.com) offers businesses around the globe an extensive array of financial products and services. With more than US$310 billion in assets and expertise in the middle-market, GE Commercial Finance provides loans, operating leases, financing programs and innovative structured capital to help customers grow. Headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, GE Commercial Finance is a wholly owned subsidiary of GE (NYSE:GE), a diversified services, technology and manufacturing company with operations worldwide.
