Kuafu scores $212M acquisition loan for 1 MiMA Tower

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China financing $261M purchase of building's top 13 floors

1 MiMA Tower
From left: 1 MiMA Tower in Hell's Kitchen, Shang Dai and rendering of unit at 1 MiMA Tower

Kuafu Properties and Shanghai Construction Group pulled off a nearly $212 million loan for its $261 million acquisition of 1 MiMA Tower in Hell’s Kitchen.

The lender is the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. Kuafu and the U.S. arm of Shanghai Construction Group purchased the top 13 floors of the 63-story residential tower, located at 460 West 42nd Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues, from Related Cos. and TIAA-CREF for $260.8 million earlier this year.

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Kuafu and its partner plan to convert the property’s 151 rental units into “affordable luxury” condos, according to the New York Observer, with the New York-based Chinese development firm filing an offering plan with the state’s Attorney General’s office in July detailing a $407.5 million sellout.

The $211.6 million financing from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China carries a loan-to-cost ratio of 81 percent, per the acquisition price.

Related initially designed the top floors of 1 MiMA Tower as condo units, with studios starting around $700,000, but backtracked on those plans during the recession and chose to keep all of the building’s units as rentals. The bottom 50 floors at the property will remain rental units. [NYO]Rey Mashayekhi