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Lightstone refis Lower East Side hotel, Gowanus apartment building
Firm upped its debt to $275M for the properties
Lightstone Group’s David Lichtenstein along with the Moxy Hotel Lower East Side (left) and 365 Bond Street in Brooklyn (right) (Getty, Lightstone Group, Google Maps)
David Lichtenstein’s Lightstone Group scored a refinancing package for its 12-story, 430-unit rental property in Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood. The developer also snagged one for its Moxy Hotel in the Lower East Side, according to PincusCo.
In Brooklyn, Lightstone secured a $165 million for 365 Bond Street from JLL Real Estate Capital, increasing its debt by $55 million, records show.
The apartment was constructed along the Gowanus Canal on a former manufacturing site. The prior owner, Toll Brothers, secured a zoning variance to build 400 condos, but scrapped the project after the Environmental Protection Agency designated the canal as a Superfund site. Lightstone bought the property in 2013 for $19 million, records show.
Lightstone decontaminated the site and it was deemed 100 percent clean by authorities in 2015. The apartment building was completed in 2016.
In 2017, the developer secured $120 million to refinance the building from Square Mile. A year later, it refinanced the loan with Goldman Sachs. At the time of the most recent financing, the loan had a balance of $110 million, according to loan documents.
On the Lower East Side, the developer also snagged a $110 million refinance package from Apollo for its Moxy Hotel. Lightstone has gotten two loans for the hotel, which replaced an existing $90 million loan from MSD Partners.
Lightstone acquired the 145 Bowery site in late 2018 for about $57 million in two transactions. The 18-story, 303-key hotel was Lightstone’s fourth Moxy project in New York City. Lightstone partners with Marriott International on the hotel brand.
Another Moxy project in Williamsburg has been snared in controversy after its zoning was ruled improper and Lichtenstein tapped Mayor Eric Adams’ former chief of staff Frank Carone as its lawyer.
Overall, developers are having a tougher time finding refinancing loans because of higher interest rates. Commercial property debt, which includes banks, CMBS, and non-bank lenders, increased to just under 1 percent in the second quarter. It marked the lowest quarterly uptick since early 2014, according to Trepp data.