980 Madison lands $160M in financing

The owners of 980 Madison Avenue, led by Aby Rosen’s RFR Realty, have secured $160 million in financing for the Upper East Side office property, arranged by Meridian Capital Group.

The six-story, 131,000-square-foot building, located at Madison and East 77th Street, includes 14,650 square feet of ground-floor retail and 100,270 square feet of office and gallery space. Douglas Elliman is one of the tenants, as well as women’s apparel maker Rebecca Taylor; the global art gallery Gagosian Gallery is the building’s anchor tenant.

Rosen had in the past planned to erect a glass tower from the existing building at 980 Madison, but ran into opposition from area residents. For a time it appeared that RFR was running low on cash and that the building would go into default, but sources later told Crain’s that the situation had been resolved. The owners listed the property in February of this year, anticipating a sale of $100 million or more.

The building’s owner, an LLC called 980 Madison Owner, secured financing provided by a trio of banks including New York Community Bank, Bank United and Customers Bank. The terms for the seven-year loan include an interest rate of 4.125 percent plus a three-year extension. New York Community Bank retained a $90 million portion of the loan, and Bank United and Customers Bank put in $40 million and $30 million, respectively.

Meridian’s Max Herzog and Terry Baydala negotiated the transaction. [REW] — Julie Strickland