A joint venture of GFP Real Estate and Meadow Partners are buying 301 First Avenue from CIM Group for $81 million, which they plan to renovate into student housing, Commercial Observer has learned. The deal is slated to close imminently.

GFP and Meadow plan to spend $55 million to turn the empty 24-story building, named Gilman Hall, between East 17th and East 18th Streets, into a 650-bed dormitory and are working to nail down a nearby university to lease the spot, according to Tom Ortinau, GFP’s head of acquisitions.

“We have recently been studying up on the student housing market and learned there’s actually a shortage of student housing in Manhattan,” Ortinau told CO, adding that GFP is looking to develop similar projects in other parts of the city and Jersey City, N.J. “There’s a lot of competition from other uses in Manhattan, like residential condos and hotels. It’s actually a very hard thing for universities to create more dorm space.”

Representatives from Meadow and CIM Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The 160,461-square-foot building was erected in 1969 and used as faculty housing for medical residents and doctors at the nearby Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Ortinau said. However, when the hospital hit financial troubles in 2016, it hired Eastdil Secured to market the building and vacated it that year, The Real Deal reported.

CIM Group bought the property along with adjacent development sites for nearly $90 million in 2017 and planned to redevelop it into a condominium or rental building, according to TRD and Meridian Capital Group‘s Lipa Lieberman, a broker on the deal. Plans were never filed and the building has been sitting empty since.

After hearing from colleges in the city about the struggles to find student housing, the Gural-family owned GFP began searching last year for properties to buy and redevelop into dorms. It tapped Meridian Capital Group’s Lieberman, David Schechtman and Abie Kassin for the job, and found Gilman Hall and brokered the deal. CIM will still retain the development sites.

“This was a good deal for both parties’ needs,” Lieberman said. “It’s always great to be part of a deal where it’s a win-win for both sides.”

GFP and Meadow will finance the purchase and redevelopment of 301 First Avenue with a $130 million construction loan from Mack Real Estate Credit Strategies. A spokesman for Mack Real Estate declined to comment.

The owners of American counter-order café and coffee bar Blank Slate Coffee + Kitchen will be opening another restaurant of the same name in Midtown, this one on Second Avenue between East 49th and East 50th Streets, Commercial Observer has learned.

The husband-and-wife team of Zach Israel and Ashley Jaffe has signed a 15-year lease for 1,300 square feet on the ground floor, plus 800 square feet in the basement (non-selling) of the residential rental building at 941 Second Avenue, according to Meridian Capital Group’s James Famularo. The asking rent was $23,500 per month, the marketing flyer indicates.

Famularo represented the landlord, Steven Croman, in the deal. Matthew Schuss, who recently moved from Winick Realty Group to JLL, brokered the deal for the tenant. He referred inquiries to Jaffe.

The new Blank Slate—which will be similar to the 1,000-square-foot outpost that opened in 2015 at 121 Madison Avenue between East 30th and East 31st Streets—will open in what was Lasagna Ristorante in April or May, per Famularo.

“We are excited to bring a neighborhood café to this area where both residents and workers alike can enjoy great coffee and café fare all day, every day,” Jaffe emailed. “We’ll also be serving dinner at this location which is an exciting new step for us. Delivery and catering will also be available to the Midtown folks and beyond.”

Last year, the owners of Blank Slate converted their year-old 600-square-foot upscale curated grocery store Blank Slate Gourmet Market, also at 121 Madison Avenue, but in a separate space with its own entrance, into a teahouse called Blank Slate Tea.

“We were receiving constant feedback that our customers wanted more sit-down food and drink options from us,” Jaffe indicated. “Blank Slate Tea focuses on specialty tea drinks and café fare that pairs perfectly with our impressive list of loose tea offerings. From matcha must-haves to indulgent tea lattes, and adorably curated tea tiers, we’re the one-stop shop for all things tea in NoMad. Blank Slate Tea has become a hit with the neighborhood folks and Instagram influencers alike—and we look forward to expanding this concept as well in the near future.”

Italian-American restaurant Atto has signed a lease for 8,000 square feet at the Tuscany Hotel at 120 East 39th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues.

The Murray Hill space includes 4,000 square feet at grade and a 4,000-square-foot roof deck, as The New York Post first reported. The lease is for 15 years, according to Meridian Capital Group retail broker James Famularo, who represented the tenant and the landlord, St Giles Hotels, in the deal. The asking rent was $150 per square foot, he said.

Atto will be taking space that was occupied by sushi restaurant Sushi Roxx—which the Post called “the city’s most bizarre theatrical dinner experience”—until it closed last July. The space has been vacant since the eatery closed, per Famularo.

The broker said that an Italian restaurant is better suited for the hotel and neighborhood. As such, it would provide a place for people to frequent multiple times a week.

Atto is the brainchild of restaurateur Mirso Lekic, who operates Tudor City Steakhouse, Il Valentino Osteria and Four Cuts Steakhouse. Lekic like the location because of “its wide storefront, 24/7 foot traffic and curated mix of office professionals, residents and tourists,” Famularo said in a release.

RXR Realty has nabbed a $182 million package from Bank of America to refinance the firm’s Downtown Brooklyn office building at 470 Vanderbilt Avenue, according to city records filed today.

The five-year loan package—which included a $25 million mezzanine piece and a $15 million gap mortgage, sources close to the deal told Commercial Observer—closed on March 1.

Meridian Capital Group‘s Rael Gervis and Richard Sutton negotiated the debt.

RXR picked up the master lease for the building from GFI Development and Starwood Capital in March 2014 for $194.5 million, aided by a $142 million first mortgage loan from J.P. Morgan Chase, records show.

Built in 1931, the 10-story, 650,000-square-foot office building takes an entire, 3-acre city block between Fulton Street and Atlantic Avenue. RXR recently deployed $74 million on the property for capital improvements, which included renovations to the elevators and lobbies and to the building’s plumbing and electrical systems.

RXR President Michael Maturo told Commercial Observer in an email that the firm was pleased to nail down the refinance, “especially after our recent value creation efforts, including a renovation of the building and leasing it to full occupancy.”

The asset is nearly 98 percent leased, for mostly government use, according to CoStar Group. The New York City Human Resources Administration leased over 400,000 square feet, from floors three through seven in Dec. 2017; the property is also home to the New York City Housing Authority. Kentucky-based nursing services company ResCare Workforce Services took the building’s remaining office space last month, nabbing a 10-year lease for 59,000 square feet across the seventh, eighth and 10th floors, as CO reported at the time.

A spokesman for Bank of America did not immediately respond. Officials at Meridian Capital Group declined to comment. 

This story was updated to include new information related to the total amount of the loan package and to include a quote from RXR. 

A group of investors is buying the White Horse Tavern and accompanying rental apartments in the West Village for $14 million, Commercial Observer has learned.

The sellers of 561 to 567 Hudson Street at West 11th Street, Eddie Brennan and James Munson, are ready to retire, but said their deal was contingent upon obtaining a leaseholder to maintain the century-old bar as is. That will happen under the watch of Eytan Sugarman of Hunt and Fish Club NYC, who signed a 15-year lease for the 2,000-square-foot bar.

“Eytan Sugarman will run it exactly as it’s been for the past 140 years,” said Meridian Capital Group retail broker James Famularo, who brokered the lease on behalf of Sugarman and the new owners. There was no asking rent as it was an off-market deal, Famularo said.

Meridian’s David Schechtman insisted that Anthony Scaramucci, who had a brief stint as President Donald Trump‘s director of communications and is a co-owner of Hunt & Fish Club at 125 West 44th Street, has no involvement with the White Horse Tavern, as The Villager suggested.

Schechtman, Adam Sprung and Abie Kassin negotiated the sale, slated to close next month. Schechtman and Famularo declined to provide the buyers’ names, but of six potential buyers, one was notorious landlord Steven Croman of Croman Real Estate and 9300 Realty Management (which oversaw a number of Croman Real Estate’s properties). Croman didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The sale includes the bar, two other retail spaces and 17 apartments—two market-rate and 15 rent-stabilized.

White Horse Tavern was founded in 1880 as a longshoreman’s bar and eventually a writer’s haunt frequented by the likes of Dylan Thomas and Jack Kerouac.

With additional reporting provided by Cathy Cunningham.

Meridian Investment Sales, the commercial property sales division of Meridian Capital Group, is pleased to present exclusively for sale the Brooklyn Parkside Portfolio for $104 million. The portfolio consists of nine properties located in the Crown Heights, Prospect Lefferts Garden, and Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhoods of Brooklyn, N.Y. Senior Managing Director, Adam J. Hess, and his team of Edward Setton and Aaron Birns are representing the seller in this transaction.

The Brooklyn Parkside Portfolio includes 291 residential units and five commercial spaces that span a total of 233,000 square feet. Six of the properties are located in Crown Heights and Prospect Lefferts Gardens in close proximity to Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Museum and the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. The remaining three buildings are situated in prime Bed-Stuy on the border of Clinton Hill, one block from Franklin Avenue and a few blocks from Atlantic Avenue. The properties, which can be purchased individually or as a package, provide investors with the unique opportunity to acquire institutional grade assets of scale from long-term ownership, as the portfolio has been owned by the same Brooklyn-based family for well over a decade.

“This portfolio offers investors the opportunity to acquire prime assets, both walk-up and elevator buildings, in three of Brooklyn’s strongest and fastest growing rental markets, Crown Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens and Bedford-Stuyvesant,” said Mr. Hess. “It is also a rare chance for investors to acquire prime assets with significant upside from long-term ownership.”

Adam Hess, Senior Managing Director at Meridian Investment Sales, can be reached at (718) 534-9201 ext 6201 or ahess@meridiancapital.com.

BMO Harris Bank has provided $57 million in acquisition and construction financing to Domus Group for the Sagamore at Mills Pond, a condominium townhome property in Woodbury, N.Y, Commercial Observer has learned.

Meridian Capital Group’s Seth Grossman and Sarah Kuebler—based in the brokerage’s Southern California offices—negotiated the debt. Officials at Meridian declined to comment on  the identity of the lender or borrower.

BMO’s 36-month loan features full-term, interest-only payments.

The 16.8-acre property was formerly the Woodbury Country Club. The club served the Long Island community for 45 years, and was owned and operated by the Passavia family, according to Long Island Business News.

When the conversion is completed, the Sagamore at Mills Pond, at 884 Jericho Turnpike, will be a luxury condominium property comprising 76 two-story garden-style townhomes and a 4,700 square foot clubhouse. Property Amenities are set to include a resort-style swimming pool, a state-of-the-art fitness center, a golf simulator, lighted tennis court and various ponds and fountains spread across 17 acres.

“This project is exciting to be a part of, as it will fill a critical void in the market. There is a lack of luxury townhomes available at a reasonable price point despite market demand,” Grossman said in prepared remarks. “Demonstrating this to lenders, coupled with the past successes of our client, generated significant financing interest that allowed us to customize the loan so that it was split into two phases that provide additional development flexibility and better economics for our client.

Officials at BMO did not immediately return a request for comment. Officials at Domus Group cold not immediately be reached for comment. 

BNE Real Estate Group has scored a $52 million loan to refinance the Link at Aberdeen Station, a luxury multifamily property in Aberdeen, N.J., Commercial Observer has learned.

AIG provided the 15-year loan, which features five years of interest-only payments, sources familiar with the transaction said. Officials at AIG declined to comment.

The Link at Aberdeen Station is a luxury multifamily complex that was constructed late in 2018 and is located at 1101 Schindler Drive, next to the New Jersey Transit Aberdeen-Matawan train station. It consists of five, five-story buildings totaling 227 studio- to two-bedroom units.

The permanent financing replaces construction debt on the property and was arranged by Meridian Capital Group’s Marvin Jeremias, who secured the financing while the asset was in the middle of the lease-up process. Officials at Meridian declined to comment on the transaction or the lender’s identity.

Building amenities include a resident lounge, a private conference room, an outdoor swimming pool and electric car charging stations.

Lincoln, N.J.-based family-owned developer BNE celebrated the property’s grand opening on March 10.

“From the moment this project was conceived, we aimed to deliver a luxury rental experience in a commuter-friendly location that is unlike anything else available in the area,” Jonathan Schwartz, a partner at BNE Real Estate Group, told My Central Jersey at the opening. “ We are proud to now introduce that transit-village lifestyle we envisioned to our first renters, all at an attractive value.”

Another day, another boutique boxing studio for New York City.

The latest boxing concept headed to Manhattan is called Grit Bxng. Founder Bill Zanker inked a 15-year, 5,500-square-foot retail lease for the brand’s first outpost at AD Real Estate’s 9 East 16th Street in Union Square, according to Meridian Capital Group retail broker James Famularo, who handled both sides of the deal. Asking rent in the transaction was $250 a square foot, Famularo said.

The gym will occupy 3,500 square feet on the ground floor and 2,000 square feet on the lower level of the building between Fifth Avenue and Union Square West. The space will have upscale locker rooms—featuring marble bathrooms and rainforest showers—on the lower floor, and boxing rings, a training area, dramatic LED lighting, a DJ and an outdoor café on the ground floor. The studio will offer boxing classes as well as one-on-one training. There will also be a fully stocked liquor bar.

Zanker, who founded adult education company The Learning Annex, doesn’t want Grit Bxng “to just be a gym where you work out and then go home,” Famularo said. “After a nice workout you may want to go to the juice bar and get a bespoke healthy cocktail. The social component is important.” The gym is expected to open this June, and it will eventually expand to other locations.

Famularo noted that the neighborhood is flush with upscale fitness concepts, including another boutique boxing gym, Shadowbox, boot camp workout 30/60/90, and pilates and barre studio Chaise Fitness, to name a few.

Thai Sliders will reopen in the Financial District, up the block from its previous location, Commercial Observer has learned.

The Thai eatery left its former spot at 108 John Street because the site is under development, and has signed a 15-year lease for 5,765 square feet at the base of 27 Cliff Street between John and Fulton Streets.

James Famularo, Ben Biberaj, and Dane Harlowe of Meridian Capital Group represented the tenant and the landlord, Greenroad Capital, in the deal. Asking rents at the Cliff Street location were $80 per square feet, according to a spokesman for Meridian.

Greenroad bought the five-story building for $12.5 million in 2018. The property was empty for over 10 years, according to information from Meridian.

“With the growing residential population and existing office density in the area, we felt a successful quick-service restaurant would be a natural fit for the space and are excited we found Thai Sliders for this location,” Biberaj said in a prepared statement.

The location includes 3,765 square feet on the ground-floor level and 2,000 square feet on the lower level. This will be the restaurant’s second location, in addition to its Chelsea outpost, at 150 Eighth Avenue between West 17th and West 18th Streets.

The Moinian Group, which owns 108 John Street (also known as 110 John Street), filed plans to build a 37-story building at the site with 250 luxury rental apartments, as CO previously reported.

GDS Development has pulled in a $32.9 million financing from Calmwater Capital to refinance a Chelsea condominium building during the sales period as construction nears its end, Commercial Observer can exclusively report.

The debt, a condo inventory loan provided against a 10-story tower at 500 West 25th Street at the corner of 10th Avenue, was negotiated by a Meridian Capital Group team of Adam Hakim, James Murad and Andrew Iadeluca.

GDS kicked off work on the project in 2016, when it paid $16 million to by the site from an entity called Jambar Family., according to property records. At the time, an auto shop and a four-story residential building shared elbow room on the property, but GDS demolished those buildings to clear space for its new project.

In addition to 2,650 square feet of ground-floor retail space, the building will include nine condo units, one of which is to be a penthouse duplex with a rooftop deck. GDS designed the building in-house: its founder, Michael Kirchmann, is an architect who previously worked at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

“The favorable financing provided by Calmwater Capital on this transaction will allow GDSNY to finalize construction of the project and complete the sale of the remaining units,” Hakim said. “Five Hundred West 25th Street will be one of the most well-designed properties in the area when complete, and benefits from great light and air due to its corner location. [It also has] fantastic High Line views, which are visible from every room in the building.”

Despite those advantages, the building will come to market at a significantly trickier moment for condominium sales than when construction began almost three years ago. Manhattan residential sales sputtered to end 2018, with the resale market down 12 percent year over year during the calendar’s final three months, according to research by Corcoran.

New construction apartments fared even worse. Sales fell 26 percent compared with the same period in 2017.

“Fewer sales, anxious sellers and new development launches have pushed inventories higher,” Corcoran analysts wrote. “The number of available apartment listings during [the] fourth quarter [of] 2018 was nearly 7,000 units, a seven-year high.”

Representatives for Calmwater and GDS did not immediately respond to inquiries.

Lightstone has already refinanced its month-old Moxy hotel at 105 West 28th Street in Chelsea for $155 million, the developer announced today.

The 35-story, 349-key Moxy Chelsea opened on Feb. 14 between Seventh Avenue and Avenue of the Americas and is the second of seven Lightstone-developed Moxy hotels in New York City. The millennial-oriented hospitality brand from Marriott is known for smaller-than-average rooms,  and a slew of amenities.

LoanCore Capital and KSL Capital teamed up to provide the financing in a deal arranged by Meridian Capital Group‘s Drew Anderman and Ben Nevid. Representatives for both companies didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.  

The hotel—designed by Rockwell Group, Stonehill Taylor and Yabu Pushelberg—features micro-rooms with space-saving furniture, three different Italian restaurant concepts, and a rooftop lounge with retractable glass walls. The second-floor lobby has a conservatory lounge with a living plant wall, meeting studios, a coworking lounge and a terrace with a pizza oven and bocce.

“Moxy Chelsea is a secret garden amidst the hustle and bustle of Manhattan, providing the perfect refuge for visitors and neighborhood residents with its stylish design and exciting amenities,” Lightstone President Mitchell Hochberg said in prepared remarks. “We’re delighted to work with LoanCore and KSL on this refinancing and are pleased with their support for Moxy Chelsea.”

The first Moxy hotel was the 612-key Moxy Times Square, opened in the fall of 2017. Lightstone is also developing Moxy outposts in the East Village, Williamsburg, Brooklyn and on the Lower East Side. The development firm ran into some neighborhood controversy in the East Village when it demolished a row of historic properties on East 11th Street to make way for a 13-story, 300-key Moxy.

Investment sales powerhouse Besen & Associates could be shuttered as part of the ongoing legal battle between partners Michael Besen and Amit Doshi, court documents show.

Doshi filed a petition on Monday in New York State Supreme Court asking for a judicial dissolution of Besen & Associates because “there is such severe dissension and irreconcilable distrust” between him and Besen which “makes it impossible for them to jointly own and operate the company,” according to the document.

The pair, which also own several properties around the city together including 223 West 30th Street and 312 East 116th Street, have been trying to sever ties since mid-2018 when Besen sued Doshi over alleged mismanagement of the company.

“The negotiations between [Doshi] and [Besen] have been fruitless. [Doshi] had no alternative but to file the accompanying petition requesting a judicial dissolution of the company,” Doshi’s lawyer, Mark Walfish, wrote in the filing.

Walfish, a Besen & Associates representative and Besen’s lawyer Michael Regan did not respond to requests for comment. Doshi declined to comment.

A judicial dissolution will put the decision of how to wind down the business in the hands of the court, which could mean properties owned by Besen and Doshi could be put up on the auction block, said Terrence Oved, the chairman of the real estate department at law firm Oved & Oved, who’s not involved in the case.

“The court is going to act almost like your mommy,” Oved said. “The court has tremendous discretion.”

The filing also doesn’t necessarily mean Besen & Associates will shutter. The judicial dissolution law will give Besen a chance to buy out Doshi’s 50 percent stake in the company at a value determined by the court, Oved added.

A dissolution process can be a relatively simple and quick affair provided the company previously wrote up a document outlining the rules and provisions, called an operating agreement, said Adam Leitman Bailey of his eponymous law firm. It’s unclear if Besen & Association have done so.

“If they have an operating agreement, it’s going to tell them what to do [in a dissolution] already,” he said. “If they don’t have those documents that’s when it gets to be more interesting and more exciting.”

Besen started the brokerage in 1988 and brought on Doshi about a year later, court documents indicate In the 1990s, Doshi became a partner in the firm. It eventually grew to become one of the top investment sales brokerages in the city, The Real Deal reported.

In 2017, the firm ranked ninth in the city and closed $631.1 million worth of deals that year, according to TRD. However, after the legal battle started, its business was nearly cut in half in 2018 to $321.1 million, dropping to the 18th spot, according to TRD.

The feud between the pair started in May 2018 when Besen sued Doshi for $10 million citing, TRD reported.

In court documents, Besen accused Doshi of pocketing commissions for himself, failing to put up funds to renovate several properties they co-own, letting his daughter live in one rent free and refusing to refinance the building “for the purpose of making it more difficult for Besen to defend himself in litigation.”

Soon after the first lawsuit was filed, Doshi left Besen & Associates to join Meridian Capital Group in July 2017, TRD reported. A spokesman for Meridian declined to comment.

Doshi denied the claims in his filings and instead pointed the blame on Besen. In court documents, Doshi alleges Besen was focusing on business outside investment sales—like property management—that never “generated more than a nominal profit, if any,” and used profits from the more lucrative investment sales division to keep them afloat.

Hotel construction lender Hall Structured Finance has provided $41.8 million to fund AD1 Global’s construction of a project in Orlando, Fla. that will house two branded hotels, according to information provided by Hall.

“This fantastic project will be ideally located near all major area attractions,” said Meridian Capital Group’s Noam Kaminetzky, who arranged the financing for the project. “Meridian, AD1 Global and HSF worked closely to structure a deal that provided up to 75 [percent] loan-to-cost, non-recourse senior debt, allowing the sponsor to then layer in EB-5 capital, minimizing their equity in the deal.”

The first-lien construction loan to Hollywood, Fla.-based developer AD1 Global, will erect a building that will house both a 144-key Aloft Hotel (a chain owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide) and a 140-room extended-stay Element Hotel (part of Marriott International). The building is supposed to open in the fourth quarter of 2020.

The development is located at the corner of Central Florida Parkway and International Drive, southwest of Orlando’s downtown and within a six-mile radius of five of the world’s top 10 most visited theme parks, including SeaWorld Orlando and Discovery Cove. The hotel will sit just a few miles west of Walt Disney World Resort.

“Orlando is the most visited city in the United States, and this new hotel will be located in the center of the area’s top tourism destinations,” Mike Jaynes, the president of Dallas-based Hall Structured Finance, said in a prepared statement. “Its ideal location, coupled with other factors including the Marriott [and] Starwood loyalty program, strong development team and modern, upscale amenities, made this a perfect fit for our loan program.”

The two brands at the hotel will share an outdoor pool with a game area, a fire pit and grills, a fitness studio, a bar in the lobby, a business center and roughly 4,000 square feet of conference space.

Hall was the industry’s top non-bank hotel construction lender last year, according to Real Capital Analytics. This deal marks the firm’s 10th in Florida, the last being a Hampton Inn & Suites in the town of Riverview, located just outside of Tampa Bay.

The firm has closed nearly $100 million in hotel construction loans in the first three months of this year, expecting to surpass $400 million by year’s end.

AD1 Global could not immediately be reached for comment.

Princeton International Properties has nabbed a $100 million loan to refinance 90 Broad Street, Commercial Observer can first report.

New York Community Bank provided the debt on the 25-story Financial District office property, sources said, which replaces an $80 million mortgage from Wells Fargo from 2017.

Meridian Capital Group’s Jeff Weinberg, Rael Gervis and Richard Sutton arranged the financing.

The Class-A asset—which spans a full block between Stone Street and Bridge Street—comprises 413,000 square feet and is currently 97 percent occupied.

Its office tenants include independent publisher George Braziller, strategic advisory firm Kepler Cannon, law firms Capuder Fazio Giaccoia and Schwartz, Goldstone & Campisi and Change to Win, a Washington D.C.-based partnership of four national employee unions.

Its ground floor retail tenants include Café Grumpy, Potbelly Sandwich Shop, Just Salad, Five Iron Golf and Dunkin Donuts.

The property was designed by Cross & Cross Architects in 1932 and features a Beaux Arts-style lobby with a barrel vaulted gold leaf ceiling. Typical floor plates range from 8,000 square feet to 19,000 square feet, per Princeton’s website and several tenants have views of Manhattan Harbor and over Lower Manhattan.

Previously owned by Kent Swig’s Swig Equities, Princeton International snapped up the building for $126 million in 2013.

Officials at Princeton International did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Officials at NYCB could not immediately be reached for comment.

Meridian Investment Sales, the commercial property sales division of Meridian Capital Group, is pleased to present exclusively for sale a retail and commercial property ripe for development, located in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn for $11.75 million. Senior Executive Managing Director David Schechtman and Managing Directors Lipa Lieberman and Abie Kassin are representing the seller in this transaction.

144-150 Greenpoint Avenue consists of two contiguous buildings on a 7,600 square foot lot. Rising two stories, the retail property spans 12,000 square feet and offers 22,800 total buildable square feet, presenting investors with a prime opportunity to reposition a unique asset of scale with a clear path to vacancy in the heart of the Greenpoint Historic District. Just steps from the G Train at the Greenpoint Avenue station, the property features 80 feet of valuable retail frontage at one of the flourishing neighborhood’s busiest intersections at Manhattan Avenue. The site benefits from flexible C4-3A (R6A) zoning that allows for a variety of uses, including repositioning the current asset or designing a new building that capitalizes on the property’s significant development rights.

“This property can be delivered vacant and allows for up to 35,588 gross square feet of usable space including the basement. It is a perfect hotel, retail space, banquet hall, or community facility in the center of Greenpoint,” said Mr. Schechtman. “The flexible zoning allows for creative owners to take advantage of the ascending neighborhood and long established Greenpoint Avenue, which is brimming with foot traffic 24/7.”

“This is a very rare and valuable offering thanks to the property’s rare 80 feet of frontage along prime Greenpoint Avenue and the ability for vacant possession,” said Mr. Lieberman. “The fact that the site offers more than 35,000 gross square feet ripe for a user or redevelopment priced in line with market expectations makes the property even more desirable.”

On the northernmost point in Brooklyn, Greenpoint is a thriving residential enclave. The area saw a flurry of development in the late 19th century with shipping factories popping up along the East River and experienced an influx of European immigrants in the late 1800s and early 1900s, predominantly from Poland, thus becoming known as “Little Poland” to many. Today, Greenpoint is emerging as a leader in Brooklyn’s burgeoning art scene. 144-150 Greenpoint Avenue benefits from its close proximity to a variety of shopping and dining options, including trendy restaurants, such as Oxomoco, Esme, Di An Di and Chez Ma Tante.

David Schechtman, Senior Executive Managing Director, can be reached at (212) 468-5907 or DSchechtman@meridiancapital.com

Size, speed, certainty.

“We’ve all tried to compete on those three things,” said ACORE Capital co-Founder Chris Tokarski, highlighting the mantra typically deployed by commercial real estate financiers to try to set themselves apart from their competitors.

In this elongated business cycle, those characteristics have taken on new life as more and more debt shops have emerged, taking advantage of fresh or hot product (such as the CLO or other transitional lending or construction opportunities) and innovative real estate (i.e. co-living and working and industrial and manufacturing assets) as they look for value.

“I think what we’re starting to see is the private lenders and debt funds with cheaper capital, starting to compete with banks,” Tokarski said. “The thing that scares me the most—and it’s not the over-leveraging of loans—is the return that’s available in the market for what’s now more riskier loans than what we’re doing two or three years ago is evaporating.”

Tokarski spoke on a four-person panel at Commercial Observer’s third annual spring financing forum that was dedicated to learning where industry veterans are finding market opportunities—it was moderated by Stroock & Stroock & Lavan Partner Elsa Ben Shimon. He spoke alongside Madison Realty Capital Principal and Co-founder Josh Zegen, Meridian Capital Group Senior Managing Director Ronnie Levine and Starwoord Property Trust Chief Originations Officer Dennis Schuh.  

In December, there was a short blip in the market that served as a reminder of what it can be like when the capital markets shut down, Zegen said. “A lot of these debt fund investors are driven by warehouse lines, repo [lines] and CLOs and there was a dramatic pullback that shut down the markets,” he said. “It was a quick stroke of reality of what can happen to the market and how subject to change [these players] can be.”

Servicing your own loans is a key strategic advantage, added Zegen, echoing a previous comment from Tokarski about ACORE’s capabilities. “Most business plans have a lot of twists and turns and having a counter party who understands the underlying real estate and business plan and can act quickly [is key].”

The current playing field is a good one for borrowers. Tokarksi joked that it means now is “probably a really good time for Ronnie… As we get more and more competition in the space, there’s always a desperate lender out there that doesn’t have enough deal flow and they’ll price through the market,” said the ACORE executive. “I don’t know that there’s a deep bench on every deal to hit the pricing that’s getting done, but there’s enough desperation that you see pricing collapse quickly on some deals.”

Levine countered: “I wouldn’t call those lenders desperate. I would say that have a positive view of the market,” he said, drawing laughter from those in attendance. “There’s a significant amount of capital in the market and it is a good time to be a borrower, but there are certain dynamics [that affect borrower appetites].”

Levine pointed to New York and legislation for rent regulation as an example. “That’s a big question mark in the [New York] market, and I think a lot of lenders are waiting to see what’s going to happen, specifically with vacancy decontrol, MCI increases and IAI (Individual Apartment Improvement] [rent] increases and the overall ability to navigate rent regulation.”

Being that many multifamily business plans in New York are predicated on buying housing and increasing rents, “as a lender lending into those business plans right now, it’s challenging to figure out how to underwrite those deals. We’re also watching the [for-sale] condo market in Manhattan, specifically absorption rates and what’s going on in the upper end of the market,” Levine said.

“Lenders are more cognizant,” Levine added. “It used to be all about price per foot, and now, the first question we’re asked is how many units are above $10 million.”

Levine said often times Meridian will put out loan requests for a range of deals at 70 percent loan-to-value (LTV) and will get offers back at 75 to 77 percent LTV because “lenders who can’t necessarily compete on price are trying to entice the borrower with a little bit more leverage to win deals,” he said. “So you’re  seeing people pulling different levers.”

The equity markets are cold right now, Zegen said, which is only adding to an aggressive debt fund market. “In many cases, people are just refinancing properties with cheap sources of capital rather than selling, because they can live another day. It’s a weird dynamic that we’re seeing,” he said. “[As a lender and developer] we’re not levering our loans that much, which allows us to drive the direct business deal with a borrower rather than the leverage provider driving the deal, so we have more flexibility.”

Schuh said Starwood continues to look for good relative value in debt, while it focuses on staying at a low leverage overall as a company. “We’re focused on absolute leverage and less reliance on repo and warehouse lines,” he said. “We have [around $1.5 billion] of corporate unsecured debt that’s outstanding, so we have a lot of unencumbered assets on our balance sheet and we think it will serve us well through a potential downturn.

“We’ll also be trying to sell more A-notes in the current environment, sacrificing return on that just to get off-balance sheet treatment,” he added.

Starwood’s size and scope allows for it to spend more time uncovering opportunities internationally as “we think they’re not as far along in terms of their economic recovery, although there’s pockets in Europe [and in other areas abroad] that you wouldn’t want to touch, but we think we’ll continue to see more exposure in our portfolio internationally.”

Schuh said the current story behind near zero or negative interest rates in certain markets in Europe, “while it can be a little bit scary,” creates an interesting backdrop for upside. “Relative value is how we think about it,” he said.

Meridian executes thousands of deals annually, and there’s no property type it doesn’t cover, giving Levine’s shop a solid barometer for what’s in demand in the market. “We’re seeing new business plans with more regularity, like co-living and coworking and other, less traditional plans, such as micro-units. People are trying to figure out a different angle in order to maximize value.”

While the innovation is interesting, Levine said the “herd mentality” in lending makes the task challenging. “Lenders are data driven and want to see data on the co-living and what happens in a downturn and whether its sustainable, so we’re having to find alternate sources for those business plans until they gain more acceptance in the marketplace.”

Levine’s comments sparked Tokarski to ask whether the seasoned broker has gotten any requests for “marijuana-related properties,” a fresh asset class he said he gets calls for routinely but never knows how to respond.

“I get requests for marijuana all the time,” Levine quipped, to laughter from the crowd. “But, we did a deal in L.A. for a facility and we financed it with a fund out of Canada for what they’re calling a manufacturing facility.

“It’s become more prevalent and there are single-purpose funds raised solely to lend into the cannabis space—I think that’s what we’re calling it—but it’s a real industry that’s only going to grow, no pun intended,” Levine joked. “It’ll pose a challenge on the financing side until it’s legalized at a federal level. Until that happens, you’ll see banks stay away from the space, leaving some outsized opportunities for funds to make returns.”

Schuh added: “It’s funny, every time I get a package on a cannabis deal, it comes from an AOL account, and that’s usually a red flag.”

“Dennis is changing the star in Starwood into a leaf, just letting you know,” Tokarski joked.

Copperline Partners has landed a $50 million refinancing for an apartment complex in Coral Springs, Fla., Commercial Observer can first report.

Meridian Capital Group‘s Ronnie Levine and Thomas Wayda represented Copperline in the transaction, according to a spokesman for the debt brokerage. Meridian declined to name the lender, but a source close to the transaction revealed that Greenwich, Conn.-based LoanCore Capital delivered the interest-only debt from its balance sheet.

The property, Innovo Living on Atlantic, includes 310 apartments in a group of buildings surrounding a small pond in the upscale Florida city, about 12 miles northwest of Fort Lauderdale. (Reptile lovers will note that it’s also within walking distance of the Everglades, an expansive tropical wetlands.) Copperline bought the development in 2016, and will use proceeds from the new loan to refresh outstanding debt and complete its renovation of the property’s apartments.

Rent on an available one-bedroom unit—875 square feet—ranges from $1,430 per month to $1,585 per month, depending on discounts, according to the property’s website. A two-bedroom unit—20 percent larger—is on the market for between $1,620 and $1,820 per month. The landscaped property has two swimming pools, a lighted tennis court and a boxing arena for more passionate disputes.

Founded by real estate developers in the 1960s, Coral Springs was master-planned in every sense. Ordinances about architecture and advertisements in the city were so strict that a McDonald’s restaurant that opened there in 1975 was the first anywhere not to feature the golden-arches emblem, because it would have violated the rules about signs. (That store closed four years ago.)

Strict governance has served the municipality well, though. Unusual among cities its size—the population is about 133,000—Coral Springs has a perfect credit rating two of the three major rating agencies, according to its most recent budget. Major local employers include electronics and medical manufacturers, hotels, and retail centers like a big car seller and a BJ’s Wholesale Club.

A LoanCore executive didn’t immediately respond to inquiries. Copperline representatives couldn’t immediately be reached.

Prime Finance has provided a $170.7 million loan for the acquisition of a seven-property Texas multifamily portfolio, Commercial Observer has learned.

Meridian Capital Group’s Seth Grossman and Sarah Kuebler—based out of the brokerage’s Southern California offices—arranged the two-year floating-rate loan, which features three one-year extension options and full-term interest-only payments.

An affiliate of Blue Stone Premier acquired the assets, sources said, and BlueStone will also manage the properties. The seller was a privately-owned firm who could not be identified by press time.

The portfolio comprises six multifamily properties in Houston and one multifamily property in Stafford, Texas, totaling 2,239 residential units. The new owners have plans to renovate the 1970s and 1980s properties, upgrading exteriors and common areas in addition to interiors. Units range in size from one-bedrooms to four-bedrooms.

Blue Premier’s website shows its Houston properties include The Park At Saronno, Siena On Westheimer, The Park At Amalfi, The Park At Pisa, The Park At Salerno and The Park at San Marino. Its Stafford asset is The Park At Tivoli.

All seven properties are located within submarkets of the Greater Houston area. Fannie Mae named Houston as the number three city for job growth last year, and it’s home to the fourth greatest number of Fortune 500 headquarters in the U.S. (after New York, Chicago and Dallas).

Officials at Prime Finance did not respond to a request for comment. Official at Blue Premier could not immediately be reached. 

Samson Management and Rabina Properties have nabbed $109 million in debt from New York Community Bank (NYCB) to refinance their office building at 110 Fifth Avenue, according to city records filed today.

The five-year, fixed rate first mortgage loan refinances roughly $94.3 million in existing debt from NYCB from 2014 and includes a new, $14.7 million gap mortgage, sources told Commercial Observer. The deal closed on April 17.

Meridian Capital Group’s Avi Weinstock and Chaim Tessler arranged the financing on behalf of the borrowers.

Queens-based Samson manages the fully-leased asset—at the northwest corner of West 16th Street—and has a 50 percent stake in the building, with Rabina holding the remaining interest.

Samson and Westchester County-based Rabina acquired the 11-story, roughly 176,000-square-foot mid-rise office tower for $18.5 million in 1996 from The New York Times Company, funded by a $12 million loan from Samson Funding. It was built in 1888 and last renovated in 2012, according to information from Samson’s website.

Tenants in the building include H&M, which is housed in nearly 50,000 square feet across the building’s top three floors and Real Capital Analytics, which has 16,300 square feet on the 7th floor.

In Oct. 2018, online news and media outlet BuzzFeed took 11,000 square feet at the base of the building for its new retail toy store concept, Camp, as CO previously reported. BuzzFeed’s space, which also includes 2,500 square feet below grade, was previously occupied by apparel retailer Joe Fresh. BuzzFeed is subleasing the location from the company that owns Joe Fresh, Canadian retail conglomerate Loblaw Companies.

Samson is currently locked in a legal battle with previous tenant, Town Residential, to recover over $430,000 in alleged unpaid rent for its 16,600-square-foot space at the 19th-century office building.

A representative for Samson declined to comment on the deal, and an official at Rabina was not immediately available for comment.