Wells Fargo leading $2.5B financing of Stuy Town buy

Loan likely to be provided through Fannie Mae and/or Freddie Mac

Stuyvesant Town (inset: Well's Fargo's John Stumpf
Stuyvesant Town (inset: Well's Fargo's John Stumpf)

Megabank Wells Fargo is taking the lead on $2.5 billion in debt financing for the Blackstone Group and Ivanhoe Cambridge’s acquisition of Stuyvesant Town.

The loan will carry a loan-to-value ratio of about 50 percent, and will most likely be delivered through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or both, anonymous sources told the New York Observer.

“We would consider participating in any refinancing of [Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village] that has the support of the city and the tenants and that preserves affordability at the property,” a Freddie Mac spokesperson told the Observer in an email.

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If that approach fails, Blackstone and Ivanhoe Cambridge would likely securitize the debt in form of commercial mortgage-backed securities, the sources said. Roughly $3 billion in CMBS debt from the previous ownership will likely be paid off entirely, the Observer reported.

Stuy Town’s new owners will also receive a $144 million loan from the city in exchange for a promise to maintain 5,000 units of rent-stabilized housing in the complex.

The partners entered into contract to buy the 110-building, 11,232-unit property for $5.3 billion earlier this month. [NYO]Ariel Stulberg