Big-ticket office refis power strong month for Manhattan loans

Manhattan’s top commercial lenders rebounded in July, extending $2.3 billion across the 10 largest loans in funds so borrowers could refinance, buy and redevelop real estate.

The amount surpassed a sluggish June, when the top 10 loans totaled just $630 million, as well as last July’s tally of $1.2 billion.

A spate of refinancings for office and residential properties led the way. Below are more details on the top 10:

Anchors aweigh | $370 million

SL Green secured $370 million from Aareal Capital to refinance its 930,000-square-foot office building at 100 Church Street in Tribeca. The funds include a new $4.7 million loan and replace debt previously held by Wells Fargo. The City of New York is an anchor tenant at the building, where 92,000 square feet are currently vacant, and another 95,000 square feet will be available in 2024, according to SL Green. The loan has a floating interest rate, according to brokerage Walker & Dunlop.

Road to recovery | $320 million

Andrew Penson’s Argent Ventures consolidated loans worth $320 million — previously held by Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China — at 1601 Broadway, where a labyrinth of owners defaulted on the building’s $330 million mortgage.

The 46-story, Times Square building has a Crowne Plaza hotel and about 230,000 square feet of office space, plus a Krispy Kreme donut shop and retail store.

Argent began buying the building’s debt in 2020 at a steep discount as the pandemic ravaged the leisure and hospitality industry, not to mention office landlords. Building owners, which have included the Walber family, Vornado Realty Trust and SL Green, were represented in the loan agreement by Richard Shinder of Theatine Partners, which specializes in financial restructuring. SL Green was ordered to sell its stake in the building to Penson’s Argent earlier this year.

JPMorgan’s millions | $315 million

Eli Elefant’s Property & Building Corporation refinanced its HSBC tower in Midtown with $315 million from JPMorgan. Some $75 million was new debt, which will go toward renovations for the 1980s-era building. Improvements to the building follow the implosion of an $855 million sale when prospective buyer Innovo failed to raise enough investment, despite a $650 million term sheet from JPMorgan. Total refinancing for 452 Fifth Avenue came to $385 million. JPMorgan replaced Wells Fargo as the senior lender.

Downtown acreage | $257 million

A joint venture between Zeckendorf Development and Atlas Capital Group secured $257 million from Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies for their $340 million purchase of 570 Washington Street, a 1.3-acre site off the West Side Highway in the West Village. The partners plan to build a condo tower there modeled on Zeckendorf’s 15 Central Park West.

Trifecta | $256 million

The Moinian Group nabbed $256 million from Deutsche Bank, including $25 million in new debt, to refinance an 818,000-square-foot portion of 17 Battery Place, a two-building rental complex in the Financial District known as the Ocean. Condo unit two, which includes floors 1-13 in the south building, and unit three, which includes the entire north building, secured the loans. Natixis Real Estate Capital and Square Mile Capital were prior lenders. Moinian landed $140 million to refinance the upper half of the south building in 2018 from Berkadia Commercial Mortgage.

Caught one | $192 million

Fisher Brothers pulled $14.6 million out of its luxury residential building at 225 East 39th Street in Murray Hill with a $192 million refinance loan from New York Life Insurance Company. Funds for the 297-unit rental, finished in 2017, replace the building’s construction loan, originated by Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual.

Rapid refinance | $174 million

Columbia Property Trust secured a $174 million agreement from Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies to refinance 799 Broadway, a 12-story office building spanning 150,000 square feet that was completed last April. The agreement is part of a $270 million financing package. Tenants at the new office offering include Wellington Management and Bain Venture Capital.

Village office | $155 million

Meadow Partners used a $155 million loan from Deutsche Pfandbriefbank to buy a 220,000-square-foot building at 95 Morton Street in the West Village for $288 million. RFR was the seller, and Wells Fargo was the prior lender. RFR bought the building in 2017 from Brickman Associates for $206 million. The address is also known as 617 Washington Street, and tenants include Paypal and Venmo.

FiDi funds | $137 million

Atlas Capital Group extracted $27.5 million from 15 Park Row, a 332-unit landmarked apartment building in the Financial District, thanks to a $136.5 million refinancing loan from Berkshire Residential Investments. Atlas bought the half-empty building last year for $140 million, and Todd English is slated to open a 20,000-square-foot eatery there. The building, finished in 1899, spent nearly a decade as the world’s tallest. It was converted from offices to residential use in the early 2000s.

Ze Germans | $117 million

Dermot Companies refinanced an Upper East Side apartment building at 220 East 72nd Street with $116.5 million, of which $9 million is new debt for interior renovations, from German lender Helaba. HSBC was the prior lender. Dermot bought the 145-unit building from former New York governor Eliot Spitzer’s family firm in 2019 for $160 million. A three-bedroom apartment currently lists for $13,000 per month, after concessions.