Manhattan’s top real estate loans post second best month since March

The 10 largest Manhattan loans recorded in October totaled $1.83 billion, a 45 percent drop from September’s all-year high but still the second strongest month since the pandemic hit the city in March.

The largest loan of the month went to Vornado Realty Trust, which has refinanced and extended several loans in recent months as capital markets open up. “The market will only become more attractive over the next 12 to 18 months as lenders become more active and compete for business,” Vornado president Michael Franco said on the company’s latest earnings call.

Here are the borough’s largest real estate loans for October:

1) Penn and paper | $500 million
Vornado secured a $500 million loan from Citibank to refinance the 23-story, 1.1 million-square-foot 11 Penn Plaza, located across the street from the REIT’s Farley Post Office redevelopment. Apple signed a 220,000-square-foot lease at the building in February, taking over space from Macy’s, which is moving its headquarters to Tishman Speyer’s JACX complex in Long Island City.

2) Highest bidder | $423 million
Barclays provided a $423 million senior CMBS loan, plus $60 million in mezzanine debt, to refinance Sotheby’s headquarters at 1334 York Avenue on the Upper East Side. The building underwent a $55 million expansion and redesign in early last year, increasing its exhibition space from 67,000 to more than 90,000 square feet.

3) Turtle Bay takeout | $289 million
BLDG Management Company landed $289 million in Freddie Mac-backed debt from Greystone to refinance Summit NYC, a 43-story luxury apartment tower at 222 East 44th Street in Turtle Bay. The refinancing replaced a $251 million construction loan provided by Bank of China in 2015. Of the project’s 429 apartments, 320 are market rate.

4) Silverstein, securitized | $165 million
Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup refinanced Silverstein Properties’ 120 Wall Street with a $165 million CMBS loan. The 35-story, 668,000-square-foot office building is located on the East River waterfront in Lower Manhattan, and counts advertising consultancy Droga5 as its largest tenant with 30 percent of rentable space.

5) Debt and Equitable | $136 million
Rockrose Development received a $136 million loan from Equitable Financial Life Insurance Company to refinance 200 Water Street, a 31-story, 576-unit luxury rental tower in the Financial District. The refinancing replaced prior debt provided by Wells Fargo in 2010 and 2013.

6) Karachi connection | $105 million
Pakistan International Airlines, which owns the Roosevelt Hotel at 45 East 45th Street near Grand Central, refinanced the property with a $105 million loan from the National Bank of Pakistan. The new debt paid off a $105 million loan that Michael Dell’s MSD Partners had acquired in June, according to PincusCo. PIA announced last month that it would be closing the hotel permanently due to the pandemic.

7) Motor mortgage | $82 million
AIG and the New York State Housing Finance Agency provided a $81.8 million loan to Blumenfeld Development for four of the five condominium units at Gotham Plaza, a mixed-use property at 159 East 125th Street in Harlem. The 11-story complex includes 233 residential units and is home to the NY State Department of Motor Vehicles and other office and retail tenants. One of the property’s two commercial units is not included in the loan collateral.

8) Gold for the guild | $56 million
Affordable housing nonprofit Grand Street Guild landed a $55.9 million refinancing from Orix Real Estate Capital for 460 Grand Street, a 200-unit rental property on the Lower East Side. The 26-story building is part of a HUD-sponsored three-tower complex that also includes 410 Grand Street and 131 Broome Street.

9) Auto loan | $50 million
Apollo Global Real Estate Management provided a $50 million refinancing for a garage and showroom at 207 East 127th Street in Harlem, owned by Miami-based Potamkin Automotive Group. The owner filed plans in 2016 to expand the commercial building by 8,760 square feet.

10) Clean slate | $35 million
Slate Property Group landed a $34.6 million from Sterling National Bank to refinance the residential portion of 47 Third Avenue, a six-story mixed-use building in the East Village with 28 residential units. The debt replaced a $31.6 million loan originally provided by Pacific Western Bank in 2017.

Correction: The headline previously misstated that October was the best month for large real estate loans since March; it was the second-best month.