125 Greenwich supertall closes on $473M debt package

After marathon negotiations that began more than two years ago, the developers of the supertall condominium at 125 Greenwich Street have closed on a $473 million financing package with four Asian banks, The Real Deal has learned. The deal answers questions about the future of what is perhaps Downtown’s most visible residential project.

The financing package consists of a $395 million construction loan with Singapore-based United Overseas Bank, Bank of China, China Merchants Bank and Wing Lung Bank. China Cinda provided a $78 million junior mortgage.

“As sales progress, there’s been a wide range of interest especially as the building continues to rise,” Davide Bizzi, whose firm Bizzi+Partners is the lead developer on the project, said in a statement. “125 Greenwich Street is the new model for Downtown New York living and the brokerage and buying communities have taken notice.”

Bizzi’s partners on the 88-story project are Howard Lorber’s New Valley and Cindat Capital Management. Michael Shvo was also initially involved in the purchase of the site and for a time, he served as the unofficial face of the project. But after facing charges of tax evasion, Shvo was sidelined and following the closing of this financing, he no longer has a piece of the project, sources said.

The developers initially secured $194 million in EB-5 financing, raised by the U.S. Immigration Fund, and a further $240 million in debt and equity financing arranged in 2015 by Howard Michaels of the Carlton Group. In 2016, the developers were in talks with UOB to provide a loan in the range of $500 million. And last July, sources familiar with the deal said the developers had signed a term sheet for a $450 million loan package, led by UOB and assisted by two other Asian banks, but that deal did not close.

Designed by Raphael Viñoly, the tower was meant to be Downtown’s answer to 432 Park Avenue, another Viñoly super-skinny that soars 1,396 feet above above Central Park.

The original owners of the 125 Greenwich site, Witkoff Group and Fisher Brothers, paid $87.5 million for it in 2012, and had planned to build a 956-foot-tall tower. The Bizzi-led partnership paid them $185 million for the site in 2014. The current plans will see the building top at 912 feet.

Sales launched at the 275-unit building last September, with condos priced between $1.3 million and $6 million. The tower’s total projected sellout is $875 million.