A $175 million bond sale backed by a mortgage on 475 Fifth Avenue, a 24-story midtown Manhattan office tower housing Penske Media Corp, has been postponed. The AAA-rated $74.12 million tranche was expected to price Oct. 6 at a spread of ~1.80 percentage points over the benchmark, according to Morningstar DBRS. Mesirow Financial manages the offering for sponsors RFR and Pacific Coast Capital Partners.
The delay reflects weakening credit conditions as investors demand higher yields amid rising rates and widening risk premiums. The tower held a 93.4% occupancy rate as of Sept. 1, with Penske Media — publisher of Rolling Stone, Variety and Billboard — as a major tenant.
This follows other recent postponements: Figure Technology Solutions Inc. shelved a $346 million residential mortgage-backed security, Freddie Mac delayed over $440 million in apartment-building bonds, and Bridge Investment Group pulled a $1.19 billion commercial real estate CLO. Morgan Stanley also struggles to sell a ~$301 million data center mortgage bond in Kansas City as investors grow cautious on AI-related debt exposure.
Source: Bloomberg Markets · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing