Office, industrial return to top of NYC’s lending fray

New York City’s biggest loans in March were propped up by a healthy mix of office, industrial and multifamily properties in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn. 

The month’s five largest loans went to projects in Manhattan, including office buildings in Morningside Heights and Murray Hill, but Queens had a strong showing with four top loans for new residential and industrial projects.

The 10 largest loans last month totaled just over $1 billion, down from $1.5 billion in February. Last March, the city’s biggest loans fetched $1.8 billion from lenders. 

Here are the details: 

Conversion collateral | Manhattan | $180 million

Athene Annuity & Life Company refinanced Delshah Capital’s 205-unit rental conversion at 30 Morningside Heights with a $165 million loan, and Israeli bondholders lent additional $15 million. The funds replaced Arbor Realty’s 2021 refinance loan of $180 million. 

Michael Shah received construction financing for the project, consisting of five medical buildings for St. Luke’s Hospital in the 1890s near Columbia University, in 2017. The Israeli bonds, managed by Tel Aviv-based Mishmeret Trust Company, are secured by 30 Morningside Heights and 55 Gansevoort Street, which Shah bought in 2012 and where luxury home goods retailer RH, formerly Restoration Hardware, runs the concept hotel RH Guesthouse. Two-bed, two-bath apartments at the Morningside Heights project are listed beginning at $7,800 per month. 

Freshening up | Manhattan | $163 million

Square Mile Capital, now known as Affinius Capital after integrating with USAA Real Estate, refinaced the Biltmore, a 464-unit multifamily building with 47,000 square feet of retail at 770 Eigth Avenue in Midtown, with a $163 million loan. The building is owned by Bentall GreenOak, the investment arm of Sun Life Financial, and Slate Property Group, which jointly bought the property from the Jack Parker Corporation and the Moinian Group in 2018 for $290 million. The funds, which will go toward renovating the property, are reportedly part of a $248 million refinancing package that includes $18 million in new gap proceeds. One-bed, one-bath apartments in the building currently list for $4,800 and up. 

East side refi | Manhattan | $160 million

Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank refinanced 600 Third Avenue, a 500,000-square-foot office building in Murray Hill owned by L&L Holding and BlackRock, with a $160 million loan. The funds replace Capitol One as the senior lender. Tenants at the 42-story building include lawfirms Polsinelli, Pomerantz and Jaffe & Asher, New York City Football Club, the Mission of New Zealand, the Mission of Austria and a Shake Shack. The building was constructed in 1970.

Going private | Manhattan | $139 million

Wells Fargo refinanced Tribeca Pointe, a 340-unit multifamily building at 399 Chambers Street in Battery Park City, with a $139 million loan — of which $98 million is new debt. Rockrose Development owns the building, which is mostly market rate with 70 units set as affordable through 2069. The refinance loan replaces the New York State Housing Finance Agency as the mortgage holder. The 42-story building completed in 1999 is undergoing renovations. The address is also known as 41 River Terrace. 

Tower time | Queens | $110 million

AIG Asset Management, the investment arm of the insurance giant, lent $110 million for the construction of Werwaiss Properties’ 37-story mixed-use tower at 23-02 42nd Road in Long Island City. The 230,000 square-foot building will have 240 residential units and about 10,000 square feet of commercial space. Fogarty Finger is the architect of record. The Werwaiss family has owned the land for the project since 1964. Werwaiss is also planning a 157-unit project at 27-10 44th Drive that will span 118,000 square feet. 

All the news | Queens | $94 million

Global asset manager PIMCO lent $94 million to Wildflower to build a 250,000-square-foot industrial warehouse at 28-02 Whitestone Expressway in College Point, Queens. Wildflower currently leases the site from the New York Times, which operates a printing facility on an adjacent property, but Wildflower is slated to take over ownership in 2025. 

Logistics loan | Queens | $75 million

HIG Realty Credit Partners lent a joint venture of Triangle Equities and Goldman Sachs Asset Management $75 million for the acquisition and recapitalization of Triangle’s warehouse project near the JFK Airport, set to come online soon. The warehouse is fully leased to DO & CO New York Catering and qualifies for tax benefits for being in an Opportunity Zone. 

Goldman entered the project with $61 million in equity; the Terminal Logistics Center, at 130-02 South Conduit Avenue in Jamaica, simultaneously sold to the JV for $124 million. The financing replaces $87 million in construction loans from CIT Bank and an equity investment by Township Capital and a pension fund client.

Supertall time | Queens | $60 million

Emerald Creek Capital made a $60 million bridge loan, secured by unsold condo inventory at the Skyline Tower in Long Island City, to the U.S. subsidiary of Hong Kong-based real estate investment company Risland Holdings. Risland, long an investor in the project, made a bulk condo purchase at the building last July for $161 million. 

In the last five years, the 800-unit building at 3 Court Square has fetched $700 million in sales and remains 30 percent unsold, according to data firm Marketproof, down from 40 percent unsold in September. Sales have averaged about $1,500 per square foot. The 67-story condo offering is Queen’s tallest building.

Happy families three | Brooklyn | $50 million

UMB Bank lent $50 million to a joint venture of the Gindi, Chetrit and Nakash families who plan to develop a warehouse at a vacant 170,000-square-foot site in Red Hook, Brooklyn, near the mouth of the Gowanus Canal. 

The development — located at 595, 611, 627 and 659 Smith Street — will take advantage of a qualified opportunity fund operated by Bridge Investment Group. A former warehouse on the site burned in a suspicious fire in 2018, shortly after preservationists sough to protect it via the city’s landmarks approval process. 

From religion to science | Queens | $44 million

Webster Bank lent Emanuel Westfried, operating under Astoria Crescent Owner LLC, $44 million to refinance a seven-story, 100,000-square-foot medical office building at 30-14 Crescent Street in Astoria, Queens. The funds replace a 2021 construction loan from Knighthead Funding. The 35,600-square-foot site had been a home to the Church of the Redeemer before Westfried bought it from the Archdiocese of Long Island in December 2020 for $10.8 million.

Correction: A previous version of this story included a $185 million loan at Tishman Speyer’s 66 Hudson Boulevard that was not new financing.