Adi Chugh’s TYKO Capital Finances Vanbarton’s 77 Water St

Adi Chugh’s TYKO Capital continues to be the go-to financier for real estate’s big developers.

TYKO provided a $280 million acquisition and construction loan for Vanbarton Group’s residential conversion of the Financial District office tower at 77 Water Street, sources told The Real Deal.

Vanbarton, headed by Richard Coles and Gary Tischler, closed Wednesday on its $95.5 million purchase of the 26-story building from Sage Realty, the management arm of the William Kaufman Organization.

Vanbarton is one of the most active developers converting outdated offices into rental buildings. The 1970s-era 77 Water could yield as many as 600 apartments.

An Eastdil Secured team brokered the sale.

“While others are talking about office to residential conversions, Vanbarton is doing it,” Coles said.

Conversions have indeed become a big topic of conversation. Dune Real Estate Partners and TF Cornerstone just announced a $1 billion fund to advance conversions.

Chugh has in short order become real estate’s most important construction financier since launching TYKO last year in partnership with Paul Singer’s Elliott Management. Chugh said he’s done $5 billion worth of loans so far.

Coles said that TYKO stands out for being easy to work with.

“Structure and flexibility and nimbleness and speed of execution are what differentiates them,” he said.