The New York Times Company has raised $225 million through a sale-leaseback of its Eighth Avenue skyscraper, it announced this morning. The deal gives investment firm WP Carey ownership of the Times' share of the Renzo Piano-designed headquarters, which the newspaper moved into in 2007. The company will then lease the real estate back at $32 a square foot, about half the going price of similar office space.
The company had more than $1 billion in debt to pay off, despite a recent $250 million loan from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim; it is also looking into the sale of its share of the Boston Red Sox. Today's deal gives the Times Company the option to buy back the building after 10 years—which both sides expect will be exercised.
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