The 10 largest real estate loans in Manhattan last month totaled $488 million, following a paltry October figure. However, the November sum was about 25 percent of what big borrowers collected in the same month last year.
Offices got some love from lenders, as they refinanced Tishman Speyer’s 666 Third Avenue and the Rudin family’s 560 Lexington Avenue. Magna Hospitality Group and Thor Equities refinanced hotels in the Financial District and Soho, respectively.
Here are more details.
Downsizing devilish debt | $185 million
Tishman Speyer refinanced a 767,000-square-foot office tower at 666 3rd Avenue with $185 million from Bank of America, replacing a 2012 loan of $265 million from Morgan Stanley Mortgage Capital. Tishman put the building, known as Chrysler East, on the market in 2019 but did not sell it. Availability in the building crept up to 16.9 percent in 2022 from 15.6 percent in 2017, Bloomberg reported.
Hotel holdout | $68 million
Magna Hospitality Group refinanced a 250-key hotel at 6 Water Street in the Financial District with $68 million from Western Alliance Bank. The loan includes $5 million in new funds and replaces debt from M&T Bank. Magna emerged as a buyer of distressed hospitality assets during the pandemic, although it has owned the FiDi property, operated by Hilton, since 2014.
Rudin refi | $55 million
The Rudin family refinanced a 345,000-square-foot office building at 560 Lexington Avenue in Midtown with $55 million from M&T Bank. The funds include $10 million in new debt and replace a 2012 loan from AXA Equitable Life Insurance, now named Equitable Holdings. Renovation of the building’s public foyer drew praise in 2015 for adding lighting, preserving brick work by artist Aleksandra Kasuba and building a sleek subway entrance, which Rudin Management promised to keep up.
Shelter skelter | $55 million
Yoel Zagelbaum refinanced four homeless shelters and a medical office building with $55 million from Mizuho Americas, the U.S. arm of one of Japan’s investment bank giants. The funds include $10 million in new debt and replace Denver-based Bear Creek Asset Management as the lender. The buildings are located at 427 West 52nd in Hell’s Kitchen, 141 West 144th Street in Harlem, 360 East 193rd Street in Fordham, the Bronx, and 85-15 101st Avenue in Ozone Park, Queens. They span 93,000 square feet.
Dine and deal | $46.5 million
Thor Equities refinanced a 114-key hotel in Soho and the adjoining George Mendes restaurant with $46.5 million from Minneapolis-based AB CarVal. The funds replace debt held by Amherst Capital. Thor bought the hotel, at 27 and 23 Grand Street, in 2017 for nearly $67 million. Veranda is the latest from Mendes after his Aldea shut down in 2020.
Think twice | $23.5 million
Think Properties consolidated debt on two hotels with $23.5 million from Axos Bank. The hotels, at 34 and 35 32nd Street in Koreatown, have a total of 191 rooms and 61,000 square feet. Mark Shemel, who began Think Properties with Shawn Vardi following an escape from Thailand’s Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004, signed for the borrower. Shemel bought the properties in 2005 and 2006 for $5.3 million and $6.7 million. The hotels are the HGU New York, designed by Amadeus Hospitality, and Hotel 32 32.
Clean Slate | $23.3 million
Slate Property Group and PCCP (Pacific Coast Capital Partners) bought a fully market-rate, 64-unit multifamily building in Midtown with a $23.3 million loan from Customers Bank. The partnership bought the 56,000-square-foot building at 123 East 54th Street, including two commercial units, from Mark Kalimian’s Abington Properties for $37.7 million. The loan, which includes $12.4 million in new funds, replaces debt held by New York Community Bank.
Village vault | $11.5 million
Alfred Sabetfard’s Sabet Group refinanced a 24-unit multifamily building in the South Village with $11.5 million from Connecticut-based Webster Bank. The funds include $6.5 million in new debt and replace Signature Bank as lender. The building, at 171 Sixth Avenue, is 13,500 square feet.
Kramisen’s Kitchen | $11.4 million
Richard Kramisen of East West Realty refinanced a 23,700-square-foot, mixed-use building in Hell’s Kitchen with $11.4 million from Ridgewood Savings Bank. The funds replace Signature Bank as lender. East West Realty has its offices at the building, at 312 West 53rd Street.
Making Hay | $10 million
Henry Hay, co-founder of Centaur Properties, refinanced his family’s 17,850-square-foot mansion at 24 East 81st Street on the Upper East Side — once listed for $63 million as the “city’s priciest townhouse” — with $10 million from Webster Bank, replacing Sterling National Bank. The banks merged in February. The townhouse, divided into six apartments, was last on the market asking $50 million, but did not sell.