Fisher Brothers with Blackstone Real Estate as joint venture completes $850 million refinancing

Manhattan, NY According to Fisher Brothers, funds affiliated with Blackstone Real Estate acquired a 46% joint-control interest in 1345 Avenue of the Americas at a full capitalization of $1.4 billion. Fisher Brothers, investing alongside Blackstone, also increased its majority ownership as part of the transaction. In addition, Fisher Brothers and Blackstone have completed a $850 million CMBS refinancing provided by Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase, and Citibank.

David Levine, co-head of Americas acquisitions for Blackstone Real Estate, said: “Midtown Manhattan is the best performing office market in the country and we are excited to partner with Fisher Brothers in this trophy asset investment.”

“This transaction reflects the tremendous value that premier, highly-amenitized office buildings continue to offer to leading institutional investors, such as Blackstone,” said Winston Fisher, partner at Fisher Brothers. “The completion of the $850 million refinancing package enables us to continue to strategically invest in the asset, while simultaneously increasing our ownership stake in the building. We remain bullish on the long-term Manhattan investment opportunity, which has been the hallmark of our family’s business for more than a century.”

Standing 50 floors above Midtown and spanning 2 million s/f, 1345 Avenue of the Americas is 92% leased, with nearly 1.1 million square feet of leases signed since 2023. Home to a prestigious tenant roster—including Intercontinental Exchange, Equitable Financial, and Fortress Investment Group—the building secured the largest commercial office lease of 2023 when Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP took 765,000 s/f.

In 2021, Fisher Brothers completed a $120 million large-scale capital improvement project with the help of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, which included upgrades to the building’s exterior, an artfully designed lobby with upgraded touchless elevators, and a new amenity floor designed by Rockwell Group, @Ease 1345. The amenity floor features 5,500 s/f of flexible meeting space, event capacity of up to 440 guests, tenant lounge, wellness center and New York City’s largest indoor terrarium. Ease Hospitality offers the latest, modernized technology to host engaging meetings and experiences. A second Ease Hospitality location opened at Fisher Brothers’ 605 Third Avenue in 2022.

In both the acquisition and refinancing, legal representation for Fisher Brothers was Paul Hastings LLP, and Blackstone was represented by Fried Frank. Eastdil Secured LLC represented the joint venture in the refinancing. The lenders, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase, and Citibank, were represented by Dechert LLP. Morgan Stanley also served as financial advisor to Fisher Brothers in connection with the acquisition.