Vornado Realty Trust, Citadel founder Ken Griffin and Rudin have closed their joint venture to build a 66-story office tower at 350 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, along with a $3.3 billion construction loan from a seven-bank group and Citadel’s 1.05 million-square-foot anchor lease. The three parties announced the closings on Oct. 21, 2026, and said construction of the tower is underway.
The closing turns a deal that was first formally agreed in August into a funded project. It also shows a bank group willing to lend billions against a single new Manhattan office tower while 850,000 square feet beyond the anchor lease is still to be marketed.
The terms of the 350 Park Avenue joint venture
Ownership is split 60% to an affiliate of Griffin, 36% to Vornado and 4% to Rudin, according to the Oct. 21 release. Those percentages are unchanged from the Aug. 11 announcement, which put the project’s development budget at about $6.2 billion. The $3.3 billion construction loan covers just over half of that.
The August release also laid out how the partners split the work and the money. Vornado contributed land valued at $500 million to the venture and said it expected to put in about $400 million more in capital over the development period. Vornado is the developer, operating member, property manager and leasing agent, and it collects customary fees for those roles. Vornado and the Griffin affiliate are co-managing members with joint control over decisions.
The timing slipped slightly from the original plan. In August, the partners said they expected the joint venture and the construction loan to close in the third quarter of 2026. They closed three weeks into the fourth.
Seven banks behind the $3.3 billion loan
The construction loan was provided by Wells Fargo Bank, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Bank of America, BMO Bank, ING Capital, PNC Bank and Standard Chartered Bank, according to the release. The partners called the financing “a resounding vote of confidence in the state-of-the-art office tower” and said it “further solidifies Park Avenue as the world’s premier office district.” The release did not give the loan’s interest rate, term or other conditions.
On our reading, the makeup of the lending group matters as much as the dollar figure. A loan this size, spread across seven of the largest U.S. and international banks, suggests lenders are prepared to treat a pre-anchored Park Avenue trophy tower very differently from older office stock. That is our interpretation, not a claim made in the release.
Citadel anchors the tower, and 850,000 square feet goes to market
Citadel Enterprise Americas LLC has signed its 1.05 million-square-foot lease, which the August release described as a 15-year deal for Citadel’s primary New York City office. Taking out the anchor space leaves 850,000 square feet in the tower’s upper floors that will be offered to other tenants. The release promises “spectacular panoramic views” from that space.
Foster + Partners designed the building. The release puts it at 1,400 feet tall and gives two sizes for the office space: “more than 1.9 million square feet” in one place and 1.9 million square feet in another.
That leasing effort will be competing in a part of Midtown where demand for the best space has been strong. In September, SL Green said its 245 Park Avenue tower was fully leased, and Vornado has been adding to its own holdings nearby, including its move into Park Avenue Plaza. The August release listed the Plaza District properties 350 Park will join: 280 Park Avenue, Park Avenue Plaza, 623 Fifth Avenue, 640 Fifth Avenue, 689 Fifth Avenue, 3 East 54th Street and 1290 Avenue of the Americas.
What the city and two landmark churches get
The partners said the project advances the goals of New York City’s Greater East Midtown rezoning, delivering a new office tower and an improved public realm in the heart of Midtown. As part of the project, 350 Park will pay a combined $150 million toward the upkeep of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Saint Bartholomew’s Church by buying their development rights, according to the release. It will also put more than $35 million into the city’s East Midtown Public Realm Improvement Fund.
The tower was approved through the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure in September 2025, the release said.
The next things to watch are the leasing of the 850,000 square feet of upper-floor space and the construction schedule. The release gave no target completion date. More office-sector coverage is in our commercial real estate section.
