Cary Tamarkin locks down $72M refi for Chelsea condos

Madison Realty Capital is the lender

From left: Cary Tamarkin, 550 West 29th Street and Josh Zegen
From left: Cary Tamarkin, 550 West 29th Street and Josh Zegen

Architect-developer Cary Tamarkin has refinanced his under-construction condo project 550 West 29th Street with a $72 million loan from Madison Realty Capital.

The senior mortgage replaces a $68 million financing package from Bank of the Ozarks and RCG Longview. Madison’s principal Josh Zegen said the new loan closed within seven days.

Tamarkin is currently finishing interior construction of the 19-unit project, which sits between 10th and 11th Avenues near the Highline, with completion expected for mid-2018. Sales officially launched in September, and prices range from $4.6 million to $13.5 million.

The property also includes a 5,022-square-foot ground-floor retail space with 75 feet of frontage. The development’s projected sellout is $136.8 million, according to the latest condo offering plan filed with the New York Attorney General.

Tamarkin is the latest developer to refinance an under-development condo project amid a broader slowdown in the luxury market. In February, JDS Development and Largo Investments landed a $91 million loan from Madison to refinance their Highline condo project 514 West 24th Street. Late last year, Steve Witkoff, Fisher Brothers and Howard Lorber’s New Valley refinanced their Tribeca condo project 111 Murray Street with a $650 million loan from the Blackstone Group.

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“Things are taking a bit longer to sell,” Zegen said of the market in general. Still, he noted that sales velocity is still healthy. “This isn’t like 2008, 2009 when there were no bids,” he said.

Many of the condo construction loans issued during the boom years of 2013 and 2014 are now maturing, he added, forcing developers who haven’t sold most or any of their units to look for financing.

While some developers choose to refinance, others are increasingly negotiating with their lenders to rework and extend existing mortgages, as The Real Deal previously reported. Meanwhile, a handful of developers with projects where closings have already begun choose to take out condo inventory loans.

Elsewhere in Manhattan, Tamarkin is also building a condo project at 555 West End Avenue in partnership with CL Investment Group.