Irvine Company officially finalized a $1.5 billion refinancing for its most iconic piece of real estate.
The Newport Beach-based real estate giant secured a 5.39% interest rate for its new loan for the MetLife Building in New York City, per Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS) data.
Irvine Co. officially closed the refinancing deal on Feb. 10. The MetLife Building, located at 200 Park Ave., is a 58-floor high-rise in Manhattan and has been in Irvine Co.’s portfolio for nearly 20 years.
The Company bought out Tishman Speyer, the MetLife Building’s minority partner, in July 2024. The buyout gave Irvine Co. full ownership of the Midtown office tower. Both companies bought the skyscraper for $1.7 billion in 2005.
The refinancing, according to credit rating analysis outlet Kroll Bond Rating Agency, is a fixed-rate interest-only mortgage loan on a 10-year term.
CoStar, citing CMBS data, shows a 10-year, $1.4 billion loan on the MetLife Building was paid off on Feb. 10. The loan’s maturity date was April 10, meaning Irvine Co. likely refinanced to avoid repaying the $1.4 billion in full next month.
Irvine Co. and the MetLife Building
The real estate company’s interest in the MetLife Building, however, was not known until 2015, when documents related to a refinancing of the property were made public that year.
It’s the only New York office asset in the portfolio of Irvine Co. whose commercial portfolio spans some 65 million square feet.
The price Irvine Co. paid for the remaining stake of the 3.1-million-square-foot office wasn’t disclosed.
The tower was recently valued at around $3 billion — $968 per square foot, more than triple the PSF price for a high-end office tower in OC — likely making it the most valuable single-property asset in Irvine Co.’s extensive portfolio.
The five largest tenants at 200 Park Ave., per CoStar data, are MetLife Inc. (409,365 square feet), law firm Gibson Dunn (337,971 square feet), law firm Paul Hastings (257,595 square feet), law firm Winston & Strawn (235,412 square feet) and CBRE (192,007 square feet).
JLL reported earlier this year that leasing volume across New York City’s office market reached 10.2 million square feet in the fourth quarter of 2024, the highest level for a three-month stretch since 2019.
200 Park Ave. was built in 1963 and was known as the Pan American World Airways Building. The 58-floor high-rise has more than 3 million square feet of office space, with the tower spanning an entire city block in Midtown Manhattan.
