Naftali Group Gets $236M Loan for Next NYC Condo Project

If the third time’s a charm, what’s the fourth?

Despite higher interest rates and a slump in the city’s condo market, Miki Naftali has landed a big construction loan for a condo project at 255 East 77th Street on the Upper East Side.

J.P. Morgan and Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital are providing $236 million to build the 62-unit building that will stand 500 feet tall, the company announced Wednesday, looking to extend Naftali’s winning streak despite disruptions brought by the pandemic.

In a statement, CEO Miki Naftali noted that despite the city’s condo market being “extremely challenging” now, the firm has “the confidence of our lenders.” JP Morgan supplied $195 million in senior debt and Starwood loaned $41 million at the mezzanine level.

Naftali has seemed to time the market well.

Since 2020, the developer has launched and sold out three condo buildings on the Upper East Side, including the 85-unit 200 East 83rd Street, where a penthouse sold in September for $24 million, and smaller projects with 27 total units at 1045 and 1165 Madison Avenue.

In 2020, while 1045 Madison Avenue was under construction, Naftali took to hanging a giant billboard on its skeleton with a New York Times op-ed by Jerry Seinfeld on why New York wasn’t dead despite Covid-19.

“Naftali’s projects are carrying the new development market on the Upper East Side,” said Marketproof CEO Kael Goodman at the time.

Naftali bought the land for the 255 East 77th Street project in 2021 for $73 million, which pencils to $428 per zoned square foot. The entire building will span about 180,000 square feet.

In addition to 255 East 77th Street, Naftali Group is working with Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries to build 470 Kent Avenue in Brooklyn. The project is a trio of buildings that will span 645,000 square feet with 561 apartments and 19,000 square feet of commercial space. The first phase has a completion date of 2025.

Outside New York, the company is active in Miami, developing large residential and mixed-use projects that include the towering new JEM in Miami.