RJ Capital Refinances Luxury Rentals in Rego Park

RJ Capital Holding has secured refinancing for a prized residential property in Queens’ Rego Park neighborhood, just nine months after opening its doors.

Benefit Street Partners provided RJ Capital with an $84 million loan for the Trylon Tower at 98-81 Queens Boulevard, the Commercial Observer reported. Newmark’s Jordan Roeschlaub, Daniel Fromm and Sam Speciale arranged the debt.

The 16-story, 170-unit development opened in March, featuring one- to three-bedroom apartments. The property has six units available, according to StreetEasy, ranging from a $3,200 one-bedroom unit to a $5,600 two-bedroom spread.

There are 60 affordable units within the complex, built with the since-lapsed 421a affordable housing tax abatement. There’s also 45,000 square feet of commercial space, divided into eight separate units.

Amenities include lounges and dining areas, an outdoor deck with pergolas and a barbecue area, a fully furnished roof deck and a fitness center.

The mixed-use development replaced the famed Trylon Theatre, a movie house that opened during the 1939 World’s Fair and stayed in place until its demolition three years ago. Design aspects of the development, like its terra cotta features, pay homage to its Art Deco past.

More recently, it was home to Ohr Natan Synagogue and the affiliated Center for New Americans, a Bukharian community center involved in a legal dispute over rent about a decade ago. It appears the synagogue and community center ultimately relocated to the other side of Queens Boulevard.

Elsewhere in Rego Park, entities linked to the LeFrak Organization recently sold two multifamily properties at 65-44 Saunders Street, known as The Tennessee, and 63-60 98th Street, known as The Washington, for a total of $33.3 million. LeFrak had owned the properties for decades; the buyer was the State Preservation Housing Development Fund Corp.

Run by Michael and Rudy Abramov, RJ Capital made news last year when it partnered with Uri Mermelstein and Joseph Yushuvayev of Top Rock Holdings for a $125 million construction loan to build upon a vacant lot next to a shuttered Forest Hills hospital, where they’re planning a 241-unit luxury condo complex.

— Holden Walter-Warner