Peebles, El Ad land $229M refi at Tribeca Clock Tower Building

JPMorgan and Lionheart Strategic Management provided new debt

From left: Jamie Dimon, chief executive officer, JPMorgan Chase and Don Peebles, chief executive officer, The Peebles Corporation (Getty Images, KPFF Consulting Engineers/Illustration by Steven Dilakian for The Real Deal)
From left: Jamie Dimon, chief executive officer, JPMorgan Chase and Don Peebles, chief executive officer, The Peebles Corporation (Getty Images, KPFF Consulting Engineers/Illustration by Steven Dilakian for The Real Deal)

Don Peebles and the El Ad Group landed a major refinancing for their condo conversion at Tribeca’s landmarked Clock Tower Building.

JPMorgan and Lionheart Strategic Management teamed up to provide $229.4 million in financing for the property at 108 Leonard Street, Commercial Observer reported. JPMorgan provided the senior loan, while Lionheart came in with mezzanine financing.

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At the corner of Leonard and Lafayette streets, the 19th-century building was home to the New York Criminal Court for decades before the developers purchased it from the city in 2013 for $160 million — at the time the most expensive property the city had ever sold.

Peebles and El Ad began converting the Beaux Arts-style building — designed by architects Stephen D. Hatch and McKim, Mead & White in 1894 as a new headquarters for the New York Life Insurance Company — into 167 residential units with 30,000 square feet of retail and 20,000 square feet of amenities.

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The project wasn’t without its troubles, though. The developers had to wade through a lengthy court battle after a state judge in 2016 ruled they couldn’t electrify the clock at the top of the building, which complicated efforts to convert its upper portion.

Peebles and El Ad’s Isaac Tshuva also quarreled over the project, accusing each other of undermining the redevelopment before settling their dispute in 2017.

Some high-profile buyers at the property reportedly include “Project Runway” and “Top Chef” producer Zoe Jackson, who paid $6.4 million for an apartment in the building, as well as Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman, who bought a two-bedroom apartment there for $3.5 million in 2020.

Billionaire Gildo Palla Pastor reportedly bought the project’s 2,618-square-foot penthouse in December for $8.7 million.

Peebles and El Ad landed a $450 million condo inventory loan for the project in 2019, brokered by the same team at Walker & Dunlop that arranged the new financing.

[CO] – Rich Bockmann

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