The New York City Housing Development Corp. last week approved its final Liberty bond deal.
The bonds will be issued on behalf of Forest City Ratner Cos., which plans to build a 76-story apartment tower in lower Manhattan. The Beekman Tower will be financed with the proceeds of $203 million of tax-exempt Liberty bonds to be sold this year and $479.1 million of taxable bonds that could be sold next year and in 2010.
The tax-exempt portion includes the New York State Housing Finance Agency’s remaining Liberty bond allocation, $13 million.
The tower was designed by architect Frank Gehry and will contain 904 market-rate rental units, a pre-K through eighth-grade public school, a nearly 24,000-square-foot medical condominium, and 190 parking spaces.
The tower will not have income restrictions, but the HDC expects to receive $12 million in fees from the issuance that it will recycle into affordable housing projects.
Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Fifth Third Securities Inc. will underwrite the deal along with a yet-to-be-named third underwriter. Hawkins Delafield & Wood LLP is bond counsel.
To revitalize New York City following the Sept. 11 attacks, the federal government allowed New York to sell $8 billion of tax-exempt bonds that were not subject to the state’s private-activity bond volume cap. All those bonds have either been sold or allocated to specific projects.
The HDC was allocated $800 million of Liberty bonds.
Last week the HDC also approved $80 million of tax exempt debt to be issued on behalf of the DeMatteis Organization. The developer plans to use the proceeds to rehabilitate four seven-story buildings containing 1,527 units in the East New York section of Brooklyn. Hawkins Delafield is bond counsel.
Banc of America Securities LLC will underwrite the 30-year variable-rate bonds in a deal that will involve a swap.
