These were the 10 biggest NYC real estate loans that closed in March

The largest New York City real estate loans that closed in March included a heap of refinancings but few construction financing deals. All but one of the top 10 transactions took place in Manhattan, and Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo were lenders on two loans each. Here they are:

1) The most valuable Red Lobster on earth? – $1.4 billion

RXR Realty and investor David Werner are co-owners of 5 Times Square, which scored a $1.4 billion refinancing from Morgan Stanley in March, about half of which has now hit property records. The 1.1 million-square-foot office tower, with tenants like EY (formerly Ernst and Young), also holds a Red Lobster in its ground floor retail space, meaning this is probably the only place on earth you can get all-you-can-eat Cheddar Bay Biscuits in a building worth more than a billion bucks. #lobsterfest

2) Yes, Virginia, there is condo financing – $305 million

Lightstone Group is building a 59-story mega-condo at 130 William Street and now they’ve got the loan to see it through. The financing isn’t from a bank, however, but from the lending business of a fellow developer, Mack Real Estate Group, which extended Lightstone $305 million for the build.

3) Commerzbank out, National Bank of Abu Dhabi in at the Chrysler – $300 million

The Chrysler Building is a little complicated. It’s been owned by three different New York family real estate dynasties, none of which ever owned the land underneath it, and now the tower is mostly owned by the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, the sovereign wealth fund of the emirate’s government. But the landmark tower is still a safe bet, so it’s not a surprise that National Bank of Abu Dhabi opted to refinance it for $300 million in March, replacing an existing loan from the German Commerzbank.

4) Manhattan news, but from Israel – $205 million

KBS Capital Advisors and Savanna recently obtained a $265 million loan package, consisting of a $205 million senior loan from Morgan Stanley Mortgage Capital Holdings in March. The news first came from filings on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, which has been an increasingly good source for details on Manhattan deals due to disclosure requirements for developer looking to raise money from its bond market.

5) (Some) affordable housing pays – $183 million

A 417-unit rental building in Hell’s Kitchen called “The Victory” has 100 affordable units, and that must be the right amount to get beaucoups of tax-exempt financing from New York Housing Finance Agency. Fetner Properties locked down $183 million for the tower at 501 West 41st Street in the form of bonds.

6) It came from Tel Aviv – $166 million

Yoel Goldman’s All Year Management is one of the busiest developers in Brooklyn, and Goldman took to Israel to raise the funds for the company’s brand new William Vale hotel in Williamsburg. The William Vale deal was the first Israeli bond by a U.S. company to be guaranteed by a first mortgage on a single asset.

7) Tessler scores “condo inventory loan” – $164.3 million

Construction is wrapping at Tessler Developments’ condo building at 172 Madison Avenue, where the developer secured a $164.3 million “condo inventory loan” from TPG and Deutsche Bank. Tessler is looking to sell the building’s 72 condos for a total of $307.7 million.

8) It’s another refinancing! – $160 million

Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance refinanced Park Tower Group’s 535 Madison Avenue office building with a $160 million loan. The financing consolidates a new $30 million mortgage and the $130 million unpaid balance on a previous loan issued in 2007.

9) How ‘bout a loan for the landowner – $160 million

It’s not always about the building. Land Gray Associates, the owners of the land beneath SL Green Realty’s 420 Lexington Avenue office building, refinanced with loan from AXA Equitable Life Insurance. Land Gray is owned by the children of Henry Hart Rice, one of the most successful real estate brokers in New York City history.

10 (tie) $2.7 billion is not enough – $150 million

Blackstone Group and Ivanhoe Cambridge already received a $2.7 billion acquisition loan from Wells Fargo for Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village in 2015, but in March they got a little more. Wells Fargo provided an extra $150 million to the owners of 11,500-unit complex. None of the Stuyvesant Town debt has been securitized yet.

Midtown can have some, too – $150 million

BLDG Management and Crown Acquisitions refinanced their building at 1 West 34th Street with a $150 million loan from Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs. The financing replaces a $100 million loan that New York Community Bank provided in 2014.