John Catsimatidis’ Red Apple Group landed a construction loan for its under-development residential project in Coney Island, records filed with the city Monday show.
Bank of America lent the developer $130 million for the 425-unit project at 3514 Surf Avenue, according to records that hit the city’s Department of Finance. Reached for comment, Catsimatidis told The Real Deal that construction on one of the three buildings at the site has already reached the seventh of an eventual 21 floors.
Though the loan was led by Bank of America, the package also included money from Spanish bank Santander, Catsimatidis said. An additional $50 million in financing through the EB-5 visa program is also coming into the project, he said. “We expected the [EB-5] money to come in five or six months, but the Chinese are throwing money at us already,” Catsimatidis said.
The buildings at 3514 Surf Avenue, dubbed “Ocean Dreams,” will span 432,000 square feet in total, including 23,000 square feet for ground floor retail. A trolley service would take residents to the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway stop, which is located more than a mile away from the development.