Kramer Levin Condo Team Advances Development at Hudson Yards

Kramer Levin acted as condominium counsel to Related Companies and Oxford Properties, developers of the 28-acre Hudson Yards project rising above the Long Island Rail Road yards on the far West Side of Manhattan, in two multibillion-dollar finance packages that closed on December 11, 2015.

The first financing transaction included a $1.3 billion financing package for 15 Hudson Yards, a 960,000-square-foot residential condominium tower, with equity provided by Related, Oxford and a sovereign wealth fund; tax-exempt bonds from New York State Housing Finance Agency; and an $850 million construction loan provided by London-based The Children’s Investment Fund.

The second was a $5 billion financing package for a mixed-use retail building and connected office tower at 20-30 Hudson Yards. The new 20 Hudson Yards will consist of a 1-million-square-foot retail destination and the adjoining 30 Hudson Yards will be a 90-story office building with a public observation deck that will house Time Warner’s new world headquarters as well as large blocks of office space for KKR and Wells Fargo. The finance package includes equity provided by Related and Oxford, a $1.5 billion construction loan from a consortium of lenders led by Deutsche Bank for 20 Hudson Yards, and a $690 million construction loan from lenders led by Bank of America and Wells Fargo for 30 Hudson Yards. 

Our work on these transactions included representing Related and Oxford on condominium matters relating to the loan structuring and documentation, as well as implementing novel, phased condominium regimes for each of the developments that enabled different lenders and capital sources to finance each building’s different components.

A Kramer Levin team of real estate partner Jonathan H. Canter and lead associate Pamela Swidler, with counsel Stephen R. Senie and associates Inge Hindriks and Meigan Serle, represented the developers in connection with transactions that closed last week. Earlier phases of the project also included additional work by real estate partner Tzvi Rokeach and corporate associate Seth R. Merl. Kramer Levin’s work representing Related on other commercial and residential condominium projects within the Hudson Yards development site continues.

The news was reported in several major media outlets, including:

The Wall Street Journal

Law360