343 Madison Avenue — BXP Grand Central Tower

BXP closed a $1.2 billion construction loan on 343 Madison Avenue on July 28, 2026, one of the largest single-asset office construction financings in New York since the rate cycle turned. Wells Fargo led, with Bank of America, BNY Mellon and JPMorgan Chase in the syndicate. The loan priced at SOFR plus 250 basis points, stepping down to plus 225 once leasing and construction benchmarks are met, on a four-year initial term with a one-year extension option. Total project cost runs about $2 billion. Kohn Pedersen Fox is the architect. Delivery is expected in 2029.

Project Scope

The tower rises 46 floors and roughly 930,000 square feet on the block between East 43rd and East 44th Streets. Its defining feature isn’t height, it’s the connection: direct access to Grand Central Terminal’s Madison Concourse, which means tenants walk from Metro-North, the Long Island Rail Road and four subway lines into the building without going outside. The amenity program is pitched as hospitality-forward, with sustainability features BXP has made standard across its newer Manhattan assets. Roughly 50% of the building was pre-leased at loan closing, and BXP said it was close to a deal with an equity partner. A general contractor has not been publicly named.

Why It Matters

Half pre-leased before the construction loan closes is the number that mattered to the syndicate. Lenders have been unwilling to fund speculative Manhattan office since 2023, and the ones that reopened did it for buildings with signed anchor tenants and direct transit connections. East Midtown has now produced a short list of towers, One Vanderbilt and 175 Park among them, that leased at record rents because they sit on top of Grand Central. 343 Madison is the same trade made smaller and cheaper. The pricing step-down tied to leasing benchmarks tells you where the lenders think the remaining risk sits.

Project Team & Details