The developers behind the condominium conversion of Tribeca’s historic clock tower building landed a large inventory loan to cover the project’s unsold units.
Mack Real Estate Credit Strategies provided a $450 million loan to the sponsors behind the conversion of 108 Leonard Street — a partnership between the El Ad Group and the Peebles Organization — sources told The Real Deal.
Representatives for El Ad, Peebles and Mack could not be immediately reached for comment. AKS Capital Partners’ Aaron Appel, Keith Kurland, Jonathan Schwartz and Adam Schwartz secured the financing for the borrowers. The brokers declined to comment through a spokesperson.
The short-term loan replaces a $411 million financing package that the sponsors landed in 2016 made up of a $334 million first mortgage from Bank of America Merrill Lynch and a $77 million mezzanine loan from Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance.
It wasn’t clear how many apartments remain unsold at the 167-unit conversion, which has had its share of twists and turns.
Don Peebles and Elad’s Isaac Tshuva paid $160 million to buy the 400,000-square-foot property from the Bloomberg administration in 2013.
But the project hit a setback when a state judge in 2016 ruled the developers couldn’t electrify the clock at the top of the building, which complicated efforts to convert the upper portion into a condo.
The developers appealed, and earlier this year in April the state’s highest court reversed the decision, clearing the way for the conversion.
Meanwhile, Peebles and Tshuva had a falling out, accusing each other in court of trying to undermine the other’s efforts to develop the property. The two sides settled their dispute in late 2017.
Sales at the project launched earlier this year, with apartments asking from $1.54 million to upwards of $20 million. The total projected sellout is $616 million, according to offering plans filed with the Attorney General’s office.