JLL arranges $352 million refinancing for 31-story 425 Lexington Ave.
Manhattan, NY JLL’s Capital Markets arranged a $352 million refinancing for 425 Lexington Ave., a 31-story, 750,000 s/f Class A office tower in Midtown.
JLL worked on behalf of the borrower, Vanbarton Group, LLC, to secure the floating rate, single-asset single-borrower (SASB) refinancing through Goldman Sachs, which was pre-placed entirely with funds and accounts managed by BlackRock.
425 Lexington Ave. is a LEED Gold-certified, top-tier office tower that serves as the global headquarters location for long-time anchor Simpson Thacher. Overall, the property is 99% leased and has been institutionally maintained, undergoing $35 million in upgrades, including a new amenity center. The newly delivered LX Club is a 16,700 s/f amenity center that includes a wellness center with Technogym equipment, a sauna and a yoga studio, multiple tenant lounges, a 45-person conference facility and a golf simulator.
JLL’s Capital Markets Debt Advisory team representing the borrower was led by senior managing directors Christopher Peck and Drew Isaacson and directors Christopher Pratt and Jennifer Zelko.
The office tower occupies a full city block on Lexington Ave. between 43rd and 44th Sts. across from Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal. 425 Lexington Ave. benefits from its location in the Grand Central office submarket, which is the city’s top-performing market with less than a 2% vacancy rate for trophy and top-tier Class A product. The submarket is a chosen location for today’s most prominent multinational corporate tenants, including Blackstone, JP Morgan, Citadel and MetLife, among others.
“As we move into the second half of 2026, New York City’s office market shows exceptional strength, with high-quality space increasingly scarce,” said Peck. “Premium office towers like 425 Lexington continue to attract robust financing interest from lenders driven by the building’s consistently strong occupancy rates, prime location opposite the city’s most heavily trafficked transit hub, and recent upgrades that include highly desirable tenant amenities.”