Carlton advises Optibase Ltd. and Gilmor USA joint venture acquisition of 49.5% interest at 485 Lexington

According to chairman Howard Michaels, Carlton has advised a joint venture between Optibase Ltd. and Gilmor USA LLC, on the acquisition of a 49.5% interest in the office building located at 485 Lexington Ave. from Green 485 JV LLC, a subsidiary of SL Green Realty Corp. In the second largest Manhattan office transaction this year, Carlton represented international investors from Israel and Nigeria in the acquisition of this 930,000 s/f office tower. "485 Lexington is an anomaly in today's market. It's a tremendous asset located two blocks from Grand Central, which is 98% leased to credit quality tenants with virtually no turnover for seven years," said Michaels. "In addition, the property has almost eight years remaining on a fixed rate 5.61% mortgage. The combination of these factors is what made the transaction palatable to our investors. Most of the larger deals which have traded this year in Manhattan have had large vacancies and short term financing. 485 Lexington has it all: super location, great tenants with no rollover for seven years and tremendous low cost, long term, fixed rate financing." Michaels is one of the U.S. most prolific deal makers completing acquisition and recapitalization transactions. Notwithstanding the credit dislocation, Michaels has continued to buck the trend and access large amounts of capital including the recapitalization at 666 Fifth Ave., the acquisition of 1372 Broadway and now the acquisition interest at 485 Lexington Ave. Just these three transactions alone will generate in excess of 1.5 billion dollars since the credit dislocation. Carlton Advisory Services, Inc. is an international real estate investment banking firm prominent in commercial and residential loan sales, debt and equity placement and merchant banking. Carlton also specializes in arranging passive, promotable equity for real estate and real estate-related Fund vehicles for many of its clients who include some of the most successful developers and financial institutions around the world. Carlton was founded in 1991, and has consummated in excess of $45 billion of transactions.