Commercial real estate lending may have hit the skids on high interest rates and banking-sector turmoil, but a handful of borrowers across the city managed to defy the odds last month.
New York City’s largest 10 real estate loans in April included a massive refinancing of a 1.3 million-square-foot Midtown office building in Midtown, a loan for a new apartment building in Inwood and funding for a big multifamily buy on the West Side. Greystone refinanced a nursing home in the Bronx to the tune of $86 million, good for the largest loan in the outer boroughs.
The top 10 loans last month combined for a little less than $1.2 billion, up from roughly $1 billion in March, though nearly half of April’s volume was driven by a single deal. Last April, in the twilight of lower interest rates, borrowers reaped over $1.7 billion in loans.
Below are more details on the city’s 10 largest real estate loans last month, ranked by dollar amount:
It takes a village | Manhattan | $500 million
SL Green refinanced its 1.3 million-square-foot office building at 919 3rd Avenue in Midtown East with $500 million from a consortium of lenders including Aareal Capital, Credit Agricole, Arab Banking Corporation, MetLife Real Estate Lending and insurer Pacific Life.
The building’s fee and leasehold interests secure the loan, which consolidated debt held by MetLife and Pacific. Media giant Bloomberg leases most of the building, occupying 748,000 square feet. Securing the loans was “extremely difficult” given uncertainty in the office market, Commercial Observer reported.
Inwood opportunity | Manhattan | $150 million
Developer Arden Group secured $150 million from Mexico’s Banco Inbursa to finish building a 19-story development with 222 residential units at 4650 Broadway in Inwood. The 350,000-square-foot building will also have an 80,000-square-foot charter school and 38,000 square feet of retail.
Located in an Opportunity Zone, the mixed-use project reportedly topped out in May and is scheduled to begin renting next summer. Built under the now-expired 421-a program following the rezoning of Inwood in 2018, some 30 percent of the units will be classified as affordable.
Rehab refinancing | The Bronx | $86 million
Zevi Kohn refinanced the 366-bed Schervier Rehabilitation & Nursing Center at 2975 Independence Avenue in Riverdale, the Bronx, with an $86 million loan from Greystone. Funds for the 280,000-square-foot building include $19.5 million in new debt and replace Citizens Bank as the lender.
In the Heights | Manhattan | $82 million
The Jay Group refinanced construction debt on its 28-story rental building in Washington Heights with an $82 million loan from HIG Capital. The funds replace Bank Hapoalim as lender and include a $14 million gap mortgage. Construction at the 238-unit building was completed this year and leasing is underway.
German engineering | Manhattan | $77 million
Deutsche Bank financed the purchase of 162 rental apartments in the Mercedes House, at 550 West 54th Street in Hell’s Kitchen, with a $77 million loan. The buyers of the building’s 142,000-square-foot rental portion were Josh Rahmani and Ebi Khalili’s Empire Capital Holdings, Khashy Eyn’s Platinum Properties and an anonymous partner completing a 1031 exchange, records show. The partners paid $100 million for what amounts to 20 percent of the property.
Wilf’s world | Manhattan | $71 million
Leonard Wilf received $71 million from Goldman Sachs to build a 25-story mixed-use building at 10 West 55th Street in Midtown. The 150,000-square-foot building will have 96 apartments and 17,700 square feet of commercial space. Wilf’s Skyline Developers, an affiliate of Garden Homes where he is CEO, is behind the project.
Goldman has been the senior lender on the project since Wilf bought the site in 2019, when the Wilf family also bought the James J. Goodwin Residence, a large family compound that abuts the development site on 54th Street.
Sunset clause | Brooklyn | $62 million
Heritage Equity Partners secured $62 million to refinance a 150-unit rental building at 875 Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, from Minnesota-based Värde Partners. The funds replace Madison Realty Capital as the lender and include $18 million in gap financing.
Rehab II | Brooklyn | $50 million
Joel Landau’s Allure Group refinanced a 295-bed nursing home at 800 St. Marks Avenue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, with $50 million from Dwight Capital. The funds include $6 million in new debt and replace Andrews Federal Credit Union as the lender.
Last June, Allure bought a medical facility in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, for $160 million. The company was in hot water for allegedly misleading the city before flipping the Lower East Side Rivington House nursing home to Slate Property Group.
Vinegar bill | Brooklyn | $43 million
Cheskie Weisz’s CW Realty refinanced a newly constructed 58-unit multifamily building at 68 Gold Street in Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn, with $43 million from Valley Bank. The loan includes $10 million in gap funds and replaces Bank Hapoalim as the senior lender.
Hitting the account | Brooklyn | $42 million
The Carlyle Group received $42 million from Invesco, secured by 37 small apartment buildings in Brooklyn. The loan is part of a $500 million agreement between Invesco and Carlyle, the private equity giant that bought more than 130 of such properties in hot nabes including Bushwick, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Park Slope and Cobble Hill. Carlyle’s move into the realm of mom-and-pop landlords has been one of Wall Street’s biggest forays into small-time ownership.
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