TF Cornerstone lands $725M for next Long Island City megaproject

Wells Fargo, PNC Bank led financing for 1,400-unit apartment complex

TF Cornerstone's Fred Elghanayan, 2-20 and 2-21 Malt Drive (Getty, SLCE Architects)
TF Cornerstone's Fred Elghanayan, 2-20 and 2-21 Malt Drive (Getty, SLCE Architects)

TF Cornerstone has landed a major financing package for its next rental project in Hunters Point.

Wells Fargo and PNC Bank led a pair of construction loans totaling $725 million for the developer’s planned 1,386-unit apartment complex at the corner of Second Street and 54th Avenue near Newtown Creek, a representative for TF Cornerstone told The Real Deal.

Wells Fargo took the lead on a $418 million loan for one portion of the project at 2-21 Malt Drive, which will include 811 units across two towers rising 25 and 38 floors from a shared six-story podium. PNC Bank led a $307 million loan for the other at 2-20 Malt Drive, a 33-story tower above a six-floor podium with 575 units.

If Malt Drive sounds unfamiliar, it’s because it doesn’t exist yet. The name — a nod to the site’s history as a beer distribution facility — will be given to a privately owned, publicly accessible street that will connect the buildings.

The buildings are scheduled to get their first certificates of occupancy in the second quarter of next year. Thirty percent of the complex’s units will be set aside as income-restricted housing.

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M&T, Bank of New York, TD Bank, Bank United and City National Bank also participated in both loans.

Excavation and foundation work at the sites were underway as of late August, New York YIMBY reported at the time.

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TF Cornerstone, led by the Elghanayan family, bought the properties for $300 million in 2018 just as Amazon was pulling out of plans to build part of its second headquarters in Long Island City.

The firm is one of the most active developers in the neighborhood, and in 2013 was selected by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to build the second phase of nearby Hunter’s Point South, which consisted of two apartment towers with nearly 1,200 units.

PNC Bank was part of a group of lenders that provided about $700 million in financing for the towers at 52-03 Center Boulevard and 52-41 Center Boulevard. TF Cornerstone cut the ribbon on those buildings in late 2021.

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