It’s been a busy holiday season for Joseph Chetrit, with the Chetrit Group and its partners closing $185 million in debt financing for two separate projects in the past week.
The deals include a $115 million floating-rate loan from Fortress Investment Group, which the Chetrit Group and Michael Stern’s JDS Development Group are using on two separate Downtown Brooklyn properties. They plan on both refinancing existing debt on the former Dime Savings Bank of New York, at 9 Dekalb Avenue, and funding their acquisition of an adjacent site at 340 Flatbush Avenue Extension, according to the New York Observer.
Chetrit and JDS acquired the former bank building from JPMorgan Chase for $90 million earlier this year. The two firms are expected to use the site’s 300,000 square feet of air rights to construct a residential skyscraper rising more than 1,000 feet at the neighboring 340 Flatbush Avenue Extension, which they partnered to buy for $43.5 million last year.
Chetrit also sealed a $70 million loan from SL Green Realty for a row of Empty Retail Shops On West 34th Street in Midtown. The developer acquired the seven parcels, at 245-261 West 34th Street, in partnership with Cornell Realty Management, for a combined $31.5 million.
Iron Hound Management brokered both transactions for Chetrit Group and its partners. [NYO] – Rey Mashayekhi