Luxury UWS Apartment Tower Lands $260M Refi: The N.Y. Deal Sheet
A trophy Upper West Side apartment building has been refinanced for $260M after its previous owner had trouble with its mortgage.
The Gotham Organization and Carlyle Group landed the new debt for The Aire at 200 W. 67th St. after they bought it for $265M in early 2024, the New York Post previously reported.
Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking originated the floating-rate loan for the 310-unit, 43-story building, which was developed in 2010. CBRE’s Lawrence Britvan and Michael Straw brokered the deal.
A&R Kalimian Realty sold The Aire after a property tax break expired in 2022, resulting in the building not generating enough cash flow to make payments on its $194M mortgage. It was moved to special servicing in 2023.
The Gotham-Carlyle joint venture scored a $216M bridge loan from MF1 Capital associated with the acquisition two months later, Commercial Observer previously reported.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Eyal Ofer’s Global Holdings refinanced luxury residential tower Anagram Columbus Circle at 1 W. 60th St. with a $190M loan. JPMorgan Chase served as the agent and provided the loan with Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank. JLL’s Christopher Peck, Peter Rotchford, Rob Hinckley, Nicco Lupo and Christopher Pratt arranged the debt.
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Jack Resnick & Sons refinanced Gracie Mews, a 310-unit luxury UES multifamily building at 401 E. 80th St. with an $80M loan from John Hancock Life Insurance Co., a division of Manulife Real Estate Finance Group. The 10-year, fixed-rate loan for the 1980-constructed building will repay an existing loan from MetLife. Avison Young’s Scott Singer, Andy Singer, Kevin Swartz and Jeffrey Moroch represented building ownership.
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The Loketch Group, Joyland Group and Meral Property Group refinanced two newly developed multifamily properties, Lorimer House and Copper Lofts, for $172M. The adjacent eight-story properties at 265 Lorimer St. and 255 Lorimer St. were completed in 2024 and have a combined 336 units. Blackstone provided the debt to the owners, who refinanced transitional debt from TPG for a five-year, fixed-rate, interest-only loan. Arrow Real Estate Advisors' Morris Betesh, Alex Bailkin and Andrew Rosenberg brokered the deal.
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JPMorgan loaned $100M to a joint venture of David Werner Real Estate Investments and 601W Cos. to acquire 205 E. 42nd St., Commercial Observer reported. The joint venture bought a 21-story office building from The Durst Organization, which developed the building in 1927. Newmark’s Jordan Roeshlaub arranged the financing, while Adam Spies, Doug Harmon, Adam Doneger, Josh King, Marcella Fasulo and Avery Silverstein brokered the $165M sale.
TOP SALES
The Related Cos. and Oxford Properties Group sold the Equinox hotel on the bottom 38 floors of the 92-story 35 Hudson Yards to Tokyo-based Mori Trust Co. for $541M, Bisnow reported. The sale includes the only hotel in the Hudson Yards complex, which has 212 keys, plus the 100%-leased office space and the 73%-occupied retail space at the base of the building. The upper floors of the tower, developed as luxury condos, weren’t included in the sale. The developers listed the property in June at an asking price of roughly $600M. The deal is one of Manhattan’s largest this year. Eastdil Secured served as the adviser to Related Cos. on the hotel portion of the sale, while a Newmark team repped both sides in the deal.
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Florida-based nonprofit EducationRE Inc. bought two South Bronx units at 425 Westchester Ave. from Starwood Capital Group for $94M, Commercial Observer reported. Starwood backed AB Capstone's development of the 10-story, 150K SF property in 2022. Zeta Charter School and the Jewish Child Care Association are the building’s anchor tenants.
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Hubb Properties acquired 181 Front St., a luxury apartment building in Dumbo, from Carlyle Group for $85M, Crain’s reported. Carlyle Group acquired the property from Megalith Capital Management for $21.4M in 2014 before it was developed. The site was previously occupied by the Jehovah's Witnesses, which sold it to Megalith in 2013 for $30.6M.
TOP LEASES
Chelsea Piers signed a 47K SF deal to open a new fitness center at TF Cornerstone’s residential conversion of 135 E. 57th St. The prolific local developer is redeveloping the 32-story Midtown East office building, formerly known as Tower 57, into upwards of 350 apartments. The deal is Chelsea Piers’ third at a TFC-owned building.
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Electrical contractor Electra USA signed a 10-year lease for 25K SF across the fourth and 31st floors at SL Green’s 10 E. 53rd St. The 37-story office is now 100% leased with a tenant roster including Swarovski and Tarsadia Capital. CBRE’s Joseph Cirone, Patrick Dugan and Zachary Price represented the tenant.
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GFI Group renewed its lease at Retirement Systems of Alabama's 55 Water St. and expanded its footprint to 129K SF, the New York Post reported. GFI is doubling its space in the 4M SF Lower Manhattan monolith, where the tenant has been since 2007. GFI will relocate workers from 199 Water St., where it has 70K SF, representing a slight consolidation. CBRE’s Howard Fiddle said the deal is the neighborhood’s largest since 2023. Asking rents were $59 per SF. Fiddle, Brad Gerla, Evan Haskell and William Hooks represented the landlord. Newmark’s Jared Horowitz and Hall Stein represented the tenant.
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Vornado inked a 133K SF lease with Rippling at 330 W. 34th St., Commercial Observer reported. The workforce management platform will occupy the 18-story building’s seventh, eighth and ninth floors for 10 years in a relocation from 4 World Trade Center. Asking rents were $85 per SF. Empire State Development’s performance-based Excelsior Jobs Program may give the tenant up to $3.5M in tax credits for creating 390 new jobs and retaining 173 full-time employees. CBRE’s Sacha Zarba and Jeff Fischer repped the tenant, while Jared Silverman repped Vornado in-house.
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Gerson Lehrman Group signed an 18K SF lease at Empire State Realty Trust’s One Grand Central Place, expanding to 96K SF in total, Commercial Observer reported. The tenant renewed its existing space in April but will now expand into two full floors. JLL’s TJ Hochanadel, Robert Martin and Dan Santagata represented the tenant. Jordan Berger, Shanae Ursini and Kerry Lavelle represented the landlord in-house alongside Newmark’s Scott Klau, William Cohen, Erik Harris and Neil Rubin.
CORRECTION, NOV. 20, 10:45 A.M. ET: A previous version of this story misstated the prior lender for the Gracie Mews development. This article has been updated.
