German bank helps 330 North Wabash refinance

23-Aug-12 – The real estate investment trust that owns 330 North Wabash has borrowed $200 million from a bank in Germany to repay its first mortgage loan and make improvements to its 52-story building in River North.

Prime Group Realty Trust says it has closed on a loan from Landesbank Hessen-Thuringen Girozentrale – one of Germany’s largest banks – and New York Life Insurance Company.

Co-owned by Five Mile Capital Partners, a commercial real estate company in Connecticut, 330 North Wabash is currently 88 percent leased and “in the final stages of being fully modernized,” according to Prime Group Realty Trust’s chairman, Jeffrey Patterson. Improvements include upgraded fire and life safety systems, restrooms, elevator cabs, and HVAC system, as well as a new fitness center, food service café, and conference center.

Recent new tenants include American Medical Association, BDO USA LLP, Latham & Watkins LLP, and SmithBucklin. A five-star luxury hotel, The Langham Chicago, will open on floors 2-13 sometime between April and June 2013.

“330 North Wabash is one of Chicago’s significant architectural icons,” says Patterson of the 41-year-old building given official landmark status in 2008. “Through this transaction, we will be even better positioned to fund additional tenant and other capital improvements and maintain the asset’s strong position in the Chicago [central business district] office market and the flourishing River North area.”

According to a news release on Thursday, $111.9 million from the loan will repay the property’s existing first mortgage. $88.1 million will be spent on “tenant and capital improvements and other costs.”

The three-year loan is secured by a mortgage on floors 13-52 of the building and an adjacent parking garage.