Adam Neumann, Jeff Dagowitz get $75M refi for Chelsea dev site

Former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann and partner Jeffrey Dagowitz have secured a $75 million refinancing for a Chelsea development site.

The new financing from G4 Capital Partners replaces an existing $65 million mortgage on the property at 123 West 23rd Street, Commercial Observer reported. Iron Hound Management negotiated the debt.

Neumann took over the earlier mortgage from Bank of America in 2017. At the time, sources told The Real Deal that Neumann’s firm had considered building a WeLive co-living tower on the site, which includes parcels at 123-131 West 23rd Street and 116-120 West 24th Street.

Following Neumann’s departure from the firm and amid mounting financial pressure from the coronavirus, WeWork is now reportedly considering abandoning the co-living business altogether.

The site currently has 243,000 square feet in development rights, which could be used for a mixed-use hotel and residential development, or a mixed office and retail project, sources told CO.

In October, TRD reported that Churchill Real Estate Holdings had prepared a $100 million refinancing for the site, which would allow Neumann to repay hundreds of millions of dollars in debt owed to lenders such as JPMorgan.

SoftBank provided a massive rescue package for WeWork soon after, including $1.7 billion to Neumann himself, and the Churchill deal did not close.

“There’s interest from a lot of lenders to provide senior debt financing,” Dagowitz said at the time, adding that “everything is very early stage and we are evaluating options.” [CO] — Kevin Sun