Waterman refis 400 Park leasehold

Investor singed new 75-year lease with Benenson in 2013

Robert Conover and 400 Park Avenue
Robert Conover and 400 Park Avenue

Waterman Interests refinanced its leasehold position at 400 Park Avenue with a $51 million loan from Bank of America.

The financing comes with a term of five years and features interest-only payments, the Commercial Observer reported. The new loan replaces $50 million in debt provided by Deutsche Bank in 2013.

“We replaced the existing mortgage and hold this asset with extraordinarily low leverage,” Waterman chief financial officer Robert Conover told the CO.

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Waterman bought the lease on the property from Aby Rosen’s RFR Realty in 2010, and then three years later, signed a 75-year master lease with Benenson Capital Partners, which has owned the land under 400 Park Avenue since 1971.

The 22-story, 260,000-square-foot building, constructed in 1957, underwent a renovation that finished in 2015 is now over 90 percent occupied, Conover said. The property is eligible for new zoning and development rights under the Midtown East rezoning plan passed in August.

Meridian Capital Group brokered the refinancing. [CO] Rich Bockmann