JDS Development Group and Property Markets Group have secured $45 million in financing for their luxury condominium development in the former Verizon building in Hell’s Kitchen, indicating that banks are becoming more receptive to condo projects, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The partnership, which acquired the upper floors of the Ralph Thomas Walker-designed telephone building at 435 West 50th Street for over $25 million in 2011, aims to convert the upper floors into 71 luxury condos, as The Real Deal previously reported. Starwood Capital will supply additional equity, having worked previously with PMG and JDS on a condo site in Chelsea and on a project at 107 West 57th Street.
The consortium’s broker Jason Cohen, the managing director of Mission Capital Advisors, told the Journal that the team’s track record of working together had eased any skittishness the bank, PB Capital, may have had. “It’s important having a group that’s experienced in doing deals together,” Cohen said. [WSJ] —Hiten Samtani