At the start of the financial crisis of 2007–2008, in December 2007 Citigroup announced they would not renew of their space on the building's third floor after it expired in August 2008. Later in the year, Kushner sold a 49% stake in the retail condominium portion of 666 Fifth to a Carlyle and Stanley Chera-led group for $525 million (about $ million in ). The buyers financed the purchase with a $300 million mortgage from Barclays and a $135 million mezzanine loan from real estate investment trust SL Green Realty. The cash infusion also allowed Kushner to repay the $335 million senior mezzanine loan they had taken out the previous year.