Clipper Equity Delinquent on $100M DoBro Loan

David Bistricer is facing financial uncertainty at a Downtown Brooklyn office building.

Bistricer’s Clipper Equity is 30 days delinquent on a loan backed by 141 Livingston Street, according to a report by Morningstar Credit reported by the Commercial Observer. The $100 million commercial mortgage-backed securities loan isn’t on the special servicer watchlist yet.

Clipper secured the financing from Citi via the CMBS market in 2021. At the time, Bistricer said his firm refinanced early and extended its term with a lower interest rate; Clipper had roughly three years left on a $79.5 million mortgage provided by New York Community Bank in 2016.

But a pivotal moment looms at the 15-story, 206,000-square-foot property. The largest office tenant is the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, which leases 96 percent of the available space. The agency, however, recently leased space at One Willoughby Square in Fort Greene and is on a lease expiring at the end of next year.

The agency, which has directed other city departments to identify underused office spaces, is a tenant alongside the New York City Civil Court and Legal Aid Society.

Clipper did not respond to the outlet’s request for comment. Bistricer purchased the building from Blackacre Capital Management for $14 million in 2002.

There are eerie similarities between what Bistricer’s privately held firm is facing at 141 Livingston and what his real estate investment trust has been dealing with a half-mile down the road, at 250 Livingston Street.

In the spring, the city exercised an option to terminate its lease at the latter next August, leading Fitch Ratings to issue a warning about the CMBS debt tied to the property.

The looming loss of the Human Resources Administration and the Department of Environmental Protection — which each signed for 10-year terms through August 2030 — will create a 342,000-square-foot void for Clipper Realty to fill at a daunting time for office landlords.

— Holden Walter-Warner