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Owners of two big Manhattan office buildings are refinancing, cashing in on recent price rises that some think may be just about over.
Douglas Durst is looking to refinance his recently completed office tower at Four Times Square, according to people familiar with the developer's plans. The 1.6 million-square-foot office building houses the publishing giant Conde Nast and the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
Meanwhile, Metropolis Realty, a private real estate investment trust controlled by financier Leon Black's Apollo Real Estate Advisors Fund, has tapped GE Capital Real Estate, a unit of General Electric, to refinance the mortgage on 1290 Avenue of the Americas.
The new loan would greatly increase the debt on the midtown office tower, which is the corporate headquarters of Equitable Life Assurance.
"Avenue of the Americas has been quite active in financing and sales in the past year," said Steven Kohn, managing director and head of capital markets at Sonnenblick-Goldman Co., a New York real estate investment bank. He attributed the activity to "a combination of debt coming due and...