Exclusive: Monday Properties resolves looming deadline for its newest Rosslyn tower

Monday Properties has refinanced the debt on 1812 N. Moore St. in Rosslyn, more than four years after lining up its $200 million construction loan for what, at the time, had a sure lock on the title of the Washington region's tallest office building.

Monday and partner Goldman Sachs locked in a five-year loan earlier this month for $250 million, months ahead of a December maturity on the construction loan they took out in 2013 for the 35-story, 580,000-square-foot building. The majority of that new debt will be reused to repay an outstanding balance of $180 million, but it also includes up to $70 million to be used for tenant improvements and building upgrades featuring an expanded fitness center and new 12,000-square-foot conference facility on the building's 24th floor.

The December deadline loomed significantly larger in late 2014, a year after the vacant building delivered, than it did in February of this year when Switzerland-based candy bar maker Nestle unveiled plans to shift its U.S. headquarters to 1812 N. Moore. That was a big factor that enabled Monday Properties to refinance the debt, company Managing Partner Tim Helmig said.

"As far as the risk spectrum being able to refinance that, we think there would have been available lending institutions that would have been able to refinance that loan, however, with Nestle, we had strong interest broadly within the lending market to refinance the building," Helmig said.

The recent leasing and development activity in Rosslyn, including for Nestle, has helped to make more capital available for projects in the area than in the past, Helmig said. It's those same factors that helped the developer complete an $888 million refinancing on the other buildings that make up its Rosslyn portfolio, including the Towers at 1000 and 1100 Wilson Blvd.

The debt markets aren't quite loose enough to prompt Monday Properties to start in on its planned redevelopment of 1401 Wilson Blvd. and 1400 Key Blvd., a two-building complex that includes the parking garage where Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward met secretly with FBI Associate Director Mark Felt, more widely known as Deep Throat.

Monday is waiting for an anchor tenant to lease enough space in the project's planned office building before kicking off that 1 million-square-foot project. It sought a short-term extension earlier this year on the approvals tied to the redevelopment, which would be built in a single phase.