Bistricer lands $386M construction loan for Greenpoint project

Bank of China, SL Green provided financing for the three-tower complex

 David Bistricer of Clipper Equity and 77 Commercial Street in Greenpoint (REIT and Google Maps)
David Bistricer of Clipper Equity and 77 Commercial Street in Greenpoint (REIT and Google Maps)

David Bistricter just landed the largest residential construction loan of the year for his massive three-tower apartment complex in Greenpoint.

The Bank of China and SL Green Realty provided Bistricer’s Clipper Equity with $386 million in financing for the developer’s massive rental project at 77 Commercial Street, sources told The Real Deal.

Bistricer will use the financing to construct a trio of rental buildings with some 720 units.

Representatives for Bistricer and Bank of China could not be immediately reached for comment. A spokesperson for SL Green declined to comment.

Bank of China provided $286 million of the financing package, with SL Green providing $100 million and an undisclosed lender chipping in a $25 million mezzanine piece, according to a source familiar with the financing. The loan has a term of three years with two one-year extension options.

Iron Hound Management arranged the financing on behalf of Bistricer. A representative for the brokerage could not be immediately reached for comment.

The new financing takes out a $70 million acquisition loan SL Green provided Bistricer when he acquired the site with his then-partner Joseph Chetrit for $25 million in 2012.

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Clipper bought out Chetrit — a frequent collaborator with whom Bistricer has a track record of borrowing from SL Green — for an undisclosed price last spring.

The 2.5-acre site is along Newtown Creek in a part of Northern Brooklyn quickly transforming from a former industrial area to a residential neighborhood. It’s at the northern edge of the massive Greenpoint Landing project — the master-planned development where Brookfield Properties and the Klein family’s Park Tower Group are building 5,500 residential units.

The $361 million loan is one of the largest construction financing deals to close this year and the largest of its kind for a residential project.

Oxford Properties Group in February secured an $973 million construction loan from Wells Fargo for its redevelopment of the St. John’s Terminal building in Hudson Square, which is set to be Google’s new New York City headquarters.

In the Bronx, Andrew Chung’s Innovo Group and Square Mile Capital locked down a $305 million loan from Bank OZK for the development of a 1 million-square-foot industrial building.

On the residential side, Eliot Spitzer and Related Companies landed $276 million in financing for their planned 526-unit housing development in Hudson Yards in February from M&T Bank.

And in January, Adam America Real Estate and Hampshire Properties locked down a $90 million construction loan from Michael Dell’s family firm to build a 15-unit residential building on the Upper West Side at 2463 Broadway.

Contact Rich Bockmann at rb@therealdeal.com or 908-415-5229