New York Times Tower Leaseback Plan May Disappoint
The New York Times Co. may have missed its chance to cash in on its Manhattan headquarters.
The media company’s plan to raise up to $225 million by selling its portion of the 52-story skyscraper and paying rent to stay there may come too late, said Dan Fasulo, managing director at Real Capital Analytics, a real estate data service in New York.
“Buyers do have a certain appetite for leasebacks,” Fasulo said in an interview. “The problem is that debt markets are still tied up. It doesn’t matter how many willing buyers you have, if there is no debt available, the deal is not going to happen at a price that the New York Times will be happy with.”
Times Co. is raising cash as a $400 million credit line expires in May and the recession pushed November advertising revenue down 21 percent from a year earlier. The third-largest U.S. newspaper publisher may also sell all or part of its 17.5 percent stake in the Boston Red Sox baseball team, a person familiar with the situation said.