After losing the hand on the Rockefeller Center deal and walking out on stalled
negotiations for the 99-year lease on the World Trade Center, Vornado Realty
Trust preserved to ink another high-profile Big Apple real estate deal - this
time smack in the center of Midtown.
After nearly 31/2 years of talks, Bloomberg LP, run by New York City Republican
mayoral hopeful Michael Bloomberg, and Vornado closed negotiations on May 1.
Alexander's Inc., an eight-property REIT of which Vornado controls a 33.1-percent
interest, signed the lease with Bloomberg.
The deal paves the way for Vornado to construct a $650 million tower across
59th Street from Bloomingdale's. Lexington and Third avenues and 58th and 59th
streets bound the empty, two-acre site, which housed the former Alexander's
retail store.
The 1.4 million-square-foot, 52-story mixed-use tower will house 900,000 square
feet of office space. Within that office space, 700,000 square feet already
is leased to Bloomberg to house the company's financial news service offices.
Bloomberg says it plans to sublease 200,000 square feet of the space.
Vornado, a fully integrated REIT, owns and manages approximately 66 million
square feet of real estate. Its office portfolio is comprised of 22 office buildings
(of which Vornado owns all or a portion) in the New York City metropolitan area,
aggregating approximately 14.4 million square feet. Vornado also has a 34-percent
interest in Charles E. Smith Commercial Realty LP, which owns approximately
12.5 million square feet of office properties in Northern Virginia and Washington,
D.C., and manages an additional 5.8 million square feet of office and other
commercial properties in the Washington, D.C. area.
The company's retail portfolio is made up of 55 shopping center properties,
including two malls and one regional mall, located primarily in the northeast
United States and Puerto Rico, totaling 11.3 million square feet of space. The
related Merchandise Mart division includes The Merchandise Mart, Chicago Apparel
Center, and 33 N. Dearborn in Chicago; Market Square Complex in High Point,
NC; the L.A. Mart in Los Angeles; and the Washington Office Center and Washington
Design Center in Washington, D.C. A total of 8.1 million square feet of office
and trade showroom space comprises this division.
Vornado's Temperature Controlled Logistics division represents a 60-percent
ownership interest in 88 refrigerated warehouses and distribution centers across
the United States, comprising 439 million cubic feet of frozen and other temperature-controlled
space.
Financial reports show the REIT's funds from operations for the quarter ended
March 31, 2001, were $81.9 million, compared to $80.2 million in 2000.
