Jeff Gural’s GFP Staves Off Foreclosure at DuMont Building

Jeff Gural’s GFP Real Estate isn’t being foreclosed upon at its home base — at least not today.

GFP landed a three-year extension on its mortgage at 515 Madison Avenue, the Commercial Observer reported. GFP took out the loan on the DuMont building in 2009, restructuring it four years later with Wells Fargo.

It’s not clear what the outstanding balance is, but Fitch had reported that GFP defaulted on a $103 million loan on the property.

In a statement, GFP noted the extension comes with a pledge to commit equity to the property for future leasing needs and tenant improvements. The office has leased 32,000 square feet this year.

Iron Hound Management’s Robert Verrone negotiated the lease extension on GFP’s behalf.

The largest occupant of the building is coworking firm Jay Suites, which leased 50,000 square feet, roughly 14 percent of the property, in 2018. The building was 84 percent occupied at the end of last year, according to Crain’s, but that’s expected to drop to 75 percent after Memorial Sloan Kettering’s lease expires.

Still, the firm predicts it will be fully leased by the end of the year.

GFP itself has occupied 13,000 square feet for the past two years. A foreclosure at the DuMont Building could have put the firm in an awkward position.

With the pressure alleviated at 515 Madison, Gural can focus on the drama at the Flatiron Building, where he was ushered aside — temporarily, at least — by the mysterious Jacob Garlick in an auction for the property. But Garlick failed to make a deposit on the property, likely sending it back to auction.

Gural has the right to exercise his second-place bid of $189.5 million, but has so far been noncommittal about whether he will do so.

— Holden Walter-Warner