$16M mortgage sells at Davis’ 1055 Park

An unidentified buyer snapped up $16.3 million in first mortgages on Trevor Davis’ glass-encased condominium project at 1055 Park Avenue at the corner of 87th Street in Carnegie Hill, sources said.

Chicago-based lender Wrightwood Capital sold the note to a “high net-worth” individual this week, a source said. Wrightwood did not respond to a request for comment and the deal has not yet appeared in public records. The two mortgages with a combined face value of $16.3 million went for their full price, two people familiar with the deal said.

The high-profile project is being built by Davis’ Davis Development Holdings, but more than a year after sales started, no units have closed, Streeteasy.com shows. The 12-story building received the first of two temporary certificates of occupancy in August, for six residential units. Five of those are for sale and one is a superintendent’s apartment.

It was not immediately clear if Davis was making full payments on his loans. Davis did not respond to requests for comment, but told The Real Deal in August that “there are no fiscal problems at 1055.”

The sale of the mortgage does not affect Davis’ ownership of the property; it only means he will make loan payments to a different lender.

The loan was being marketed for about a month by David Schechtman, senior director at investment sales firm Eastern Consolidated.

Schechtman declined to comment.

In the summer, Davis Development cut its asking prices by as much as 30 percent and changed its marketing team for the third time, tapping Prudential Douglas Elliman brokers Dina Lewis and Melanie Lazenby, both senior vice presidents, for the job. Lazenby said “there is a high level of interest and many repeat showings.”

The building has about 15,400 square feet of sellable floor space, one of the sources said, meaning units need to sell for about $1,300 per foot for Davis to pay off the first mortgage and mezzanine loans. Streeteasy.com lists asking prices for four units between $1,987 per square foot to $2,757 per square foot.

Insiders said a buyer might purchase the note with the intent of collecting the higher interest rates a construction loan carries compared to current real estate returns now.

In addition to the mortgages which were sold, there is a mezzanine loan with a value of about $4.5 million on the property, one of the sources said. City property records show a loan with a value of up to $6 million held by Midtown-based Zimco Holdings.

Davis recently lost his property at Lexington Avenue and 65th Street to Toll Brothers, where he had planned to build a 17-story condo building.