The top 10 Manhattan loans recorded in July totaled just $1.66 billion, the lowest sum since February and just a third of June’s total. And that’s not much more than last month’s top loan: Related Companies and Allianz received a $1.43 billion CMBS loan from Deutsche Bank for their purchase of WarnerMedia’s office condominium at 30 Hudson Yards. July is also the first time since last September that no single deal broke the $300 million mark.
1) Homes shall be constructed – $266 million
The Naftali Group secured a $266 million financing package from HSBC for its condominium project at 200 East 83rd Street. Naftali and Rockefeller Group are planning a Robert A.M. Stern Architects-designed luxury condo tower at the site. The partners acquired the parcel in March for $167 million and filed plans for the project in May. This was Naftali’s second major financing package for an Upper East Side project in one week (see No. 7 on this list).
2) Pier pressure – $250 million
A group of “leading Korean financing institutions” provided $250 million in financing for the Howard Hughes Corporation’s redevelopment of the Seaport District in Lower Manhattan, secured by eight properties including the Tin Building and the recently opened Pier 17. Civitas Alternative Investments will administer the loan. In June, Howard Hughes was reported to be considering a sale of the company to close the gap between its share price and it net asset value.
3) All in the family – $198 million
Aby Rosen’s RFR Holding financed its $260 million acquisition of the office building at 477 Madison Avenue with a $198 million loan from Citibank. The sale came after a drawn-out family feud between former Harper’s Bazaar fashion editor Barbara Slifka and her nephews over control of the property, which served as the headquarters of the Ford Foundation when it was built in 1953. After closing the deal, Rosen posted a photo of the property with the caption “Welcome to the family.”
4) Lend thy neighbor – $175 million
JPMorgan Chase provided a $175 million refinancing package for AEW Capital Management’s 250 Park Avenue, a 21-story, 464,000-square-foot office building just across the street from JPMorgan’s own under-demolition headquarters at 270 Park Avenue. Elsewhere in the Grand Central neighborhood, Boston-based AEW is under contract to sell its boutique office building at 360 Lexington Avenue to Savanna for a bit more than $180 million.
5) In the Thick-of-et – $145 million
A joint venture between Vornado Realty Trust and the Albanese Organization landed a $145 million refinancing package from ING Capital for the recently completed 172,000-square-foot office building at 512 West 22nd Street, next to the High Line at the Chelsea Thicket. The new interest-only loan replaces $126 million in construction financing provided by PNC Bank in 2015.
6) Poalim provides – $120 million
In Naftali Group’s other major loan deal of the month, Bank Hapoalim provided $120 million in construction financing for 1039-1045 Madison Avenue, a development assemblage the firm has spent roughly two years putting together that offers more than 60,000 buildable square feet. The financing will allow Naftali to move forward with a condominium project designed by architect Peter Pennoyer.
7) Jardinventory – $115 million
Centaur Properties and Greyscale Development Group refinanced their condominium project next to the High Line, the Jardim at 527 West 27th Street, with $115 million in financing from Deutsche Bank. The new debt replaces $115 million in construction financing provided by Bank of the Ozarks in 2015 and is secured by the building’s 36 residential and 2 commercial condominium units.
8) Rabina revival- $110 million
A new joint venture between Rabina Properties, Ceruzzi Properties and SMI USA secured $110 million in financing from Bank OZK for 520 Fifth Avenue, replacing $200 million in defaulted senior and mezzanine debt provided by Mack Real Estate Credit Strategies to Ceruzzi and SMI in 2017. The new loan helped save the long-stalled project from foreclosure, and Rabina will now be the lead developer on the project.
9) Spruced up – $107 million
Black Spruce Management and NYC Housing Partnership received $107 million in financing from Arbor Commercial Mortgage for nine Washington Heights properties along St. Nicholas Avenue. Arbor also provided $65 million in refinancing for part of a 21-property Harlem portfolio which the partners picked up in January from E&M Associates for $76.25 million.
10) Dermot debt – $105 million
The Dermot Company, USAA Real Estate and Dutch pension fund PGGM received a $105 million acquisition loan from HSBC for their $160 million buy of 220 East 72nd Street, a 147-unit rental building developed by Spitzer Enterprises in 1975. Eliot Spitzer has been selling off several of the family firm’s older assets to help finance a new crop of developments since taking over from father Bernard.