L&M, J&R Music founders lock in $235M loan for Park Row condo project

54-story building at 23 Park Row is slated for completion by 2020

From left: George Gleason, rendering of 23 Park Row (credit: Primary Capital via YIMBY) and Ron Moelis
From left: George Gleason, rendering of 23 Park Row (credit: Primary Capital via YIMBY) and Ron Moelis

L&M Development Partners and the founders of the iconic J&R Music store landed $235 million in construction financing from Bank of the Ozarks for their 54-story condominium project overlooking City Hall Park, property records filed with the city Thursday show.

The partners plan to build a 691-foot-tall, 266,000-square-foot tower at 23 Park Row, the site of the former J&R Music and Computer World location. The developer formed a partnership with J&R founders Joe and Rachelle Friedman in 2014 to develop the site.

The Friedmans contributed two properties at the site, 23 and 31 Park Row, which they valued at $14.4 million and $36.2 million, respectively. L&M bought 29 Park Row in 2015 from investor Philip Hymowitz for $21 million.

Plans call for 110 condos as well as roughly 55,000 square feet of retail spread across the cellar and the four lower floors. The tower, designed by COOKFOX Architects, is already under construction. Corcoran Sunshine will be marketing the units in the building, which is expected to be completed in early 2020, a spokesperson for L&M told The Real Deal.

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Arkansas-based Bank of the Ozarks has become one of the most active construction lenders in the city. Bank founder George Gleason earlier this month said he remains bullish on the city’s condo market, and expects the bank to add between $3.1 billion and $4 billion worth of loans to its books nationwide this year on top of its current $14.8 billion.

The bank recently provided $130 million to Simon Baron Development for its condo conversion of a 12-story Carnegie Hill building at 12 East 88th Street.

(To view our Deal Sheet’s financing transactions involving Bank of the Ozarks, click here)