Cain, Alchemy-ABR Score Refi For Billionaires’ Row Office Tower

Cain and Alchemy-ABR Investment Partners landed a $321 million refinancing for their newly completed Billionaires’ Row office tower.

JPMorgan Chase provided the senior loan for 125 West 57th Street, while Hudson Bay Capital provided the mezzanine loan. The fresh financing for the 30-story tower replaced a $250 million construction loan from Security Benefit Life Insurance Company, a Cain affiliate.

A Walker & Dunlop team including Adam Schwartz, Aaron Appel, Jonathan Schwartz arranged the deal.

The deal values the 260,000-square-foot property at more than $600 million once certain leasing milestones are reached, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar. Recent leases at the Class A tower have topped $300 per square foot. Tenants include Eldridge Industries, Jadian Capital, Kingdon Capital Management and AdaptHealth.

Ten Five Hospitality – the group behind the Mother Wolf restaurants in Miami, Las Vegas and Los Angeles – is also planning a ground-floor restaurant in the building.

The refinancing comes just months after construction was completed on the Plaza District tower, which was built on spec. The joint venture bought the property in 2021 for $130 million from Calvary Baptist Church.

The tower, designed by FXCollaborative, has Central Park views and 7,000 square feet of retail space. The building also includes a new home for Calvary Baptist Church, which retained ownership of its 180-foot-high base portion of the building.

The deal to buy the building had a major setback at the onset of the pandemic when a lender pulled out of the transaction, the New York Post reported at the time. But after Cain International brought in its affiliate as a new lender, the partnership closed on the property.

The developers’ bet on the property could pay off. Owners of Class A trophy towers are benefiting from tightening availability and record asking rents. Manhattan logged 313 leases at $100 per square foot or higher last year, along with 28 deals north of $200, according to JLL. A handful pushed past $250.

In April, a lease signed by Soloviev Group at 9 West 57th Street set a record for office rents in the borough at $327.50 per square foot.