Xin Capital has nabbed a $51 million loan to acquire a fully-leased retail and office assemblage in Times Square.
White Oak Real Estate Capital provided the senior secured loan for the purchase of Times Square West, a 144,500-square-foot property at 303 West 42nd Street and 300 West 43rd Street. The complex includes 17,500 square feet of ground-floor retail and 127,000 square feet of recently renovated office space.
“It’s in an extremely strong market, Times Square still being one of the most prominent retail corridors in the country,” said Eric Tanjeloff, Managing Principal at White Oak Real Estate Capital.
Xin Capital will use the capital to build out a new space for a newly signed office tenant. The space, according to the firm, will be used by a global food and beverage entertainment experience. Tanjeloff predicts that when the plans for the space become public, it “will garner some attention because it is so different” from what currently exists in the city.
That lease will bring the property to 100 percent occupancy. “We think that creates significant value for the owner and obviously support for our loan,” said Tanjeloff.
Current retail tenants include Chick-fil-A, Smashburger, 7-Eleven, Dunkin’ Donuts and Little Italy Pizza, predominantly under long-term leases signed during the pandemic at below-market rent, according to Tanjeloff. Those leases have about 15 years remaining, providing what he called a “stable foundation” for the property’s cash flow.
Jerry Tang, founder of Xin Capital, said in a statement that the financing from White Oak “allowed us to take advantage of what we believe is a once in a lifetime opportunity to buy undervalued assets in Manhattan.”
The project is an example of how Manhattan’s vacant office space can be creatively reimagined for more viable uses, Tanjeloff said, citing a past $21.5 million White Oak financing of a conversion to self-storage in Tribeca, hotel conversions and other non-office uses.
The deal comes on the heels of White Oak’s $42.2 million senior secured loan to Related Companies for the Village at Tuxedo Reserve and a $27.2 million senior secured loan to 1784 Holdings for a self-storage project in Garden Grove, California.
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