This Week’s N.Y. Deal Sheet: Rybak Scores Construction Loan For UES Condo Building
Rybak Development landed $26.5M in construction financing for an 11-story residential building on the Upper East Side.
The financing for Rybak’s planned development at 500 E. 81st St., a former hotel site, came from Maxim Capital Group, Commercial Observer reported.
The deal was structured at a 65% loan-to-cost ratio, according to Meridian Capital Group, with the firm’s Scott Miller, Eli Finkel and Rael Gervis leading the team that negotiated the deal.
Rybak acquired the site, which runs from 500 to 502 E. 81st St., in 2023 for $10.4M. It previously housed the Gracie Inn Hotel as well as a diner and a laundromat.
The deal is a change in territory for Rybak, whose portfolio in New York City has been largely concentrated in South Brooklyn and parts of Queens, the firm's website shows.
Rybak plans to turn the site into a 100-unit condo building with amenities including a sauna, a spa and a fitness center. The new property is expected to be delivered in the middle of next year.
FINANCING
The Durst Organization notched two refinancing loans totaling $440M secured by three office buildings, PincusCo reported. The first, valued at $250M, was secured by the 735K SF office tower at 1155 Sixth Ave. Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase provided the fresh capital, which replaced a $110M loan from Munchener Hypothekenbank, UBS, AIG and Aareal Bank. The second refinancing deal, valued at $190M, was secured by 733 Third Ave. as well as 17 office condo units at 205 E. 42nd St. The new loan came from Citibank and replaced a previous $220M sum from UBS and Citibank.
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Fisher Brothers scored a $850M refinancing deal for 1345 Sixth Ave. from Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and JPMorgan, Crain’s New York Business reported. The deal matures in just two years, despite the 2M SF building being 92% leased to long-term tenants including law firm Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison.
The financing replaces a 20-year mortgage signed in 2005, and comes with three one-year extension options. Blackstone agreed to put up a $168M down payment and Fisher put in $175M, with half of the loan proceeds set to be used to buy out equity owners who are JPMorgan Asset Management clients.
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Stonehenge NYC netted a $45.9M initial loan with MetLife for a Lenox Hill residential building, PincusCo reported. The loan covers a 210K SF, 159-unit residential building at 360 E. 65th St., which has an alternative address of 1199 First Ave. Stonehenge NYC has owned the property since 2008, when it spent $126M acquiring the fee and the leasehold.
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Muss Development nabbed a $24.9M refinancing for a 203K SF office property in Jamaica, Queens, PincusCo reported. The sum covers 88-11 165th St. and was provided by Symetra Life Insurance Co. It replaces a previous CMBS loan, Series 2013-LC12, valued at $28M.
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Parkway Realty Associated refinanced two Crown Heights apartment buildings for $17.3M, PincusCo reported. The properties are the 63-unit 539 Saint Johns Place and the 20-unit 260 Buffalo Ave. The new financing came from JPMorgan Chase and replaced a $19.5M prior loan from Flagstar Bank.
TOP LEASES
Law firm Fox Rothschild signed an expansion deal at H.J. Kalikow’s 101 Park Ave., bringing its total footprint to 75K SF, Commercial Observer reported. Fox Rothschild has been in the building since 2015, when it signed a 15-year, 48K SF deal. The new lease will keep the law firm there for another 12 years.
Other tenants in the 49-story building include dog breed registry nonprofit the American Kennel Club and private equity firm Incline Equity Partners. Fox Rothschild was repped by Cushman & Wakefield’s Mark Weiss. The landlord was repped by Cushman & Wakefield’s John Cefaly.
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Hedge fund Suvretta Capital Management has signed a 12K SF lease at Rockrose Development's 11 E. 26th St., relocating from 540 Madison Ave., Commercial Observer reported. Asking rent in the deal at the 21-story, two-building office property was $145 per SF.
Suvretta’s new neighbors will be Reckoner Capital, an asset management company, as well as credit intelligence and data research company Octus and medical equipment manufacturer Butterfly Network. William Cohen and Ariel Harwood of Newmark repped Rockrose. Jarod Stern and Adele Werner repped Suvretta.
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RFR’s Seagram building has signed three leases totaling 62K SF, according to a release. MIC Capital Partners, the asset management arm of Mubadala Investment Company, signed to renew its existing space until 2044 and add a further 18K SF, bringing its total footprint to 36K SF. Berkley Insurance Group, a subsidiary of W. R. Berkley Corp., renewed its 18K SF lease. Invemed Associates, which operates as a private equity and investment banking firm, renewed its 7K SF space. AJ Camhi and Paul Milunec repped RFR in-house in all the deals, while CBRE’s Justin Aronson represented Mubadala.
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An artificial intelligence firm plans to relocate its headquarters from Los Angeles to New York City, Commercial Observer reported. Attix, a company that builds AI-powered software for trading firms and hedge funds, is moving into a 19K SF space at United American Land’s 73 Spring St. The firm isn’t relinquishing its LA space but will treat the NYC space as its new HQ. Asking rents at the six-story Spring Street property were $78 per SF, with Justin Myers and Dennis Someck of Lee & Associates NYC representing Attix and Brett Harvey, Howard Hersch, Jennifer Schreiber and Natalie Serio of Newmark representing the landlord.
TOP SALES
Camber Property Group shelled out $72M for a newly built vacant multifamily building at 2886 Atlantic Ave., Commercial Observer reported. The Jay Group sold the 183-unit Cyprus Hills property, which was completed in 2023. The property will be an affordable housing site run in partnership with the New York City Department of Social Services and nonprofit the Institute for Community Living. Rosewood Realty Group’s Aaron Jungreis, Ben Khakshoor and Alex Fuchs repped both sides of the deal along with Latitude Property Group’s Scott Dweck.
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Evergold Group is the new owner of three Chinatown retail properties, paying $33M for the Canal Street buildings, Commercial Observer reported. George Terrenova sold 224, 232 and 234 Canal St., spanning 53K SF in total, to Evergold, property records show. The shortest is 234 Canal St., which is two stories high, while 224 and 232 Canal are seven and eight stories, respectively. Tenants at the properties include a bubble tea store, a pizza restaurant and an iPad and iPhone repair store. Evergold’s plans for the properties are unclear, but they are zoned for light manufacturing and could also be used for residential, commercial and community uses, Crain’s reported.
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Camber Property Group sold two apartment buildings in Soundview for $54.5M, Commercial Observer reported. Phoenix Realty Group was the buyer of the buildings at 820 and 880 Thieriot Ave., which are both 16 stories high and span a total of 314 units. The sale price is more than twice the $19M that Camber paid for the buildings in 2017, as reported by The Real Deal at the time. The 2017 sale was the first time the properties changed owners since they were built under the Mitchell-Lama program in 1968, with Camber putting in roughly $20M in renovations after the acquisition.
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Related Fund Management sold 34 rent-regulated apartment buildings in the Bronx for $195.5M, Crain’s reported. The properties total 2,021 units in neighborhoods including Wakefield, Norwood and University Heights, with sites including a six-story Art Deco rental at 2160 Bolton St., a 49-unit postwar building at 3013 Valentine Ave. and a 101-unit building at 2780 University Ave.
Related acquired the properties in a series of deals in 2014 that totaled $253.4M, representing a 23% loss for the seller — even before factoring in its $32M capital improvement investments in the buildings. The buyer was Longacre, a partnership between PH Realty Capital and Rockledge. The first two batches of sales, at $68M and $62M respectively, have now hit property records, PincusCo reported.
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Time Equities acquired 323 E. 19th St., a 38-unit rent-stabilized building in Ditmas Park, for $13.1M, Crain’s reported. The seller was Lightstone Management. The property was built in 2016 and has eight stories, according to StreetEasy.
