These were the 10 largest Manhattan real estate loans in December

The top 10 Manhattan loans recorded in December totaled just under $3 billion, continuing a five-month streak of increasing deal volume. For the first time since May, December saw a single deal break the billion-dollar mark – and as was the case in May, that loan also went to a Times Square megaproject.

1) The Times Are A Changin’ – $1.13 billion

After scoring a $2 billion acquisition loan this spring for its project at 701 Seventh Avenue (a.k.a. 20 Times Square), Maefield Development and its partners landed another massive financing package for the development across the street at 1568 Broadway, known as TSX Broadway. Goldman Sachs was the lender. The developers also raised more than $780 million in new equity from a group of investors including ultra-high-net-worth individuals and Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group.

2) And The… Times Are A Changin’, Too – $635 million

A group of four lenders provided a $635 million loan to Brookfield Asset Management, to help refinance the company’s leasehold mortgage on part of the New York Times building at 620 Eighth Avenue. The New York Times developed the property, completed in 2007, in a partnership with Forest City – which was recently acquired by Brookfield in $6.8 billion deal. The lenders were Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, Barclays Capital Real Estate Inc. and Citi Real Estate Funding Inc.

3. Stone for Pebble – $248 million

Under-the-radar hotel powerhouse Highgate Hotels financed its acquisition of the Park Central Hotel with a $248 million loan from Blackstone Group’s mortgage arm. Highgate had acquired the 934-key hotel at 870 Seventh Avenue from Pebblebrook Hotel Trust for $366 million the month prior, with Cerberus Capital brought in as an equity partner on the deal. Highgate had acquired the hotel once before in 2005, but sold it off when the market turned.

4. Overseas Banks, Unite! – $225 million

SL Green Realty landed a $225 million construction loan for its rental tower(!) development at 185 Broadway. The lenders were Singapore’s United Overseas Bank and the Germany’s Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen (Helaba). The 31-story, 260,000-square-foot mixed-use building “will be the first building to be constructed in Lower Manhattan under the City’s new Affordable New York Housing program,” according to SL Green.

5. A Cohen Brothers production – $182 million

Citi Real Estate Funding provided a $182 million mortgage for Cohen Brothers Realty to refinance its stake at 3 Park Avenue, a mixed-use building in Midtown South. Cohen Brothers controls the office portion of the 41-story building, while the lower floors belong to the New York City Educational Construction Fund and are home to three public schools.

6. Biltmore, bought more – $175 million

London-based landlord GreenOak Real Estate Advisors financed its acquisition of the Biltmore, a Midtown rental tower, with a $175 million loan from Mesa West Capital, per city records. The loan replaced Fannie Mae debt that the previous owner, Jack Parker, had secured for the building. The 52-story, 464-unit building at 271 West 47th Street is named after the Biltmore Theatre next door.

7. Clarion call – $141 million

Park Avenue-based Clarion Partners secured a $141 million loan from MetLife for its acquisition of an office building at 114 West 41st Street, near Bryant Park. The seller, Blackstone subsidiary EQ Office (formerly Equity Office Properties), has sold off two other office properties in the area recently. The $282 million sale was brokered by Newmark Knight Frank.

8. Battery recharged – $132 million

The Moinian Group secured a $131.5 million loan from Square Mile Capital for its partial residential conversion of 2 Washington Street in the Financial District. The 31-story building is the northern half of the mixed-use complex known as 17 Battery Park. Moinian refinanced the complex’s South Building with a $140 million Berkadia loan in October.

9. Germans in (The) Paris – $125 million

Multifamily landlord Stellar Management refinanced its 24-story Art-Deco rental tower, The Paris at 752 West End Avenue, with a $125 million Helaba loan. Two months prior, Helaba had also provided Stellar with $75 million to refinance Central Park Gardens at 28-70 West 97th Street. Both loans replaced prior debt from Capital One.

10. Midtown goes Downtown – $124 million

Midtown Equities and Rockwood Capital landed a $161 million loan, of which $124 million was recorded in city records, for their acquisition and repositioning of Number One Broadway, a landmarked Financial District office building. The developers, who had previously redeveloped the Empire Stores in Dumbo, plan to convert the property into modern offices.