InterVest Capital Partners and Metro Loft have scored an $867M conversion loan to turn a formerly troubled Financial District office tower into a massive apartment building.
:no_upscale():quality(75))
The deal is the largest office-to-residential financing package for a single-building conversion in U.S. history, according to a release. Apollo Global Management, JPMorgan Chase and Tyko Capital provided the debt.
The developers are converting the 24-story office tower into a 30-story luxury rental apartment building with 1,568 units and 7K SF of ground-floor retail. A quarter of the units will be reserved as affordable housing.
The financing includes a $700M senior loan and a $167M mezzanine loan, with $779M in new debt and the restructuring of an existing $88.4M C-PACE loan from Petros PACE Finance, Commercial Observer reported.
Roughly 4.3M SF of office space was taken offline for conversion projects this year, and another 9.5M SF of former workspace is expected to kick off conversion to new housing next year, according to Cushman & Wakefield data provided to Bisnow.
Walker & Dunlop's Dustin Stolly, Aaron Appel, Adam Schwartz, Keith Kurland, Jonathan Schwartz, Sean Reimer and Sean Bastian brokered the deal.
InterVest brought on Metro Loft as a partner after almost losing 111 Wall to foreclosure when it and its former partner, Nightingale Properties, defaulted on its $500M financing package. Nightingale was removed as a partner after its CEO, Elie Schwartz, was investigated for and ultimately convicted this year of defrauding investors out of $54M.
TOP FINANCING DEALS
Naftali Group and Access Industries landed a $525M construction loan for the second phase of Williamsburg Wharf, a master-planned, five-building development. The loan, provided by JPMorgan Chase and GoldenTree Asset Management, will finance 363 for-sale residential units at 80 Wharf Way and refinance existing debt for the property’s acquisition and closing costs. Walker & Dunlop’s Keith Kurland, Aaron Appel, Dustin Stolly, Jonathan Schwartz, Adam Schwartz, Sean Reimer, Ari Hirt and Stanley Cayre brokered the deal.
***
Brookfield Properties and WatermanClark refinanced Lever House, a 21-story office at 390 Park Ave., with a $150M loan from Bank of New York Mellon, Commercial Observer reported. CBRE’s Tom Rugg, Tom Traynor, Mark Finan and Henry Fenmore brokered the deal.
***
Ian Schrager refinanced the Public Hotel, a 28-story, 367-key hotel on the Lower East Side, for $310M, Commercial Observer reported. JPMorgan Chase provided a single-asset, single-borrower CMBS loan for the property at 215 Chrystie St., while Tikehau Capital provided a $57M mezzanine loan. Newmark’s Jordan Roeschlaub, Jonathan Firestone, Nick Scribani and Tyler Dumon arranged the financing.
***
Carlyle Group provided a $640M condo inventory loan to Rabina for 520 Fifth Ave., retiring a $540M construction loan from Bank OZK and Carlyle’s global credit business, The Real Deal reported. Sales for the 100 luxury condos in the 1,000-foot building launched in April 2024.
TOP LEASES
:no_upscale():quality(75))
Law firm Thompson Coburn renewed its 46K SF lease at The Feil Organization’s 488 Madison Ave., staying put on the 14th and 15th floors. The 447K SF office tower is over 90% leased. Andrew Wiener, Tim Parlante and Kyle Young represented Feil in-house. Savills’ Joe Learner and Jarod Stern and JLL’s Chris Krause repped the tenant.
***
Three entities under insurance company Tokio Marine Group are taking a total of 24K SF across two floors at The Durst Organization’s 825 Third Ave. Tokio Marine America and Tokio Marine North America Services are relocating from 590 Madison Ave., while Tokio Marine HCC is relocating from 600 Lexington Ave. Tom Bow, Ashlea Aaron, Bailey Caliban and Sayo Kamara represented the landlord in-house. JLL’s Cynthia Wasserberger, Carlee Palmer and Jakob Cohn represented TMA and TMNAS, while Savills’ Mike Catalano, Jeffrey Peck, Daniel Horowitz and Jacob Stern represented TMHCC.
***
Coworking firm Jay Suites signed for 30K SF at Quinlan Development Group and Building and Land Technology’s Pioneer Building at 41 Flatbush Ave. in a direct deal, Commercial Observer reported. Jay Suites joins a tenant roster that includes Merit Hill Capital and EnergyHub.
***
Ratings agency Moody’s is relocating from 7 World Trade Center to 200 Liberty St., a 40-story tower in Brookfield Place. The 460K SF lease is a downsizing for Moody’s, which has 760K SF at 7 WTC, but is still one of 2025’s largest leases. Cushman & Wakefield's Robert Lowe, John Cefaly, Paige Engledrum, Ed Donnery, Michael Montesi and Nicholas Dysenchuk represented Moody's. JLL’s Paul Glickman, John Wheeler and Christine Colley represented landlord Brookfield, alongside an in-house team of Mikael Nahmias, Dan Roberts and Andrew Dunn.
TOP SALES
:no_upscale():quality(75))
Slate Property Group and Breaking Ground acquired the Stewart Hotel at 371 Seventh Ave. for $255M, according to a release. The duo plans to convert the 31-story, 611-room hotel — closed since 2022 — into 579 homes for low-income households and formerly homeless individuals. The sellers were Jack Yadidi’s Sioni Group and Isaac Chetrit’s Patriarch Equities, The Real Deal reported. The developers secured roughly $250M in financing, including state and local funding.
***
Brookfield swallowed a loss on a South Bronx industrial building this week in a sale to California-based LBA Realty, according to city property records. A fund controlled by the asset management giant sold 845 E. 136th St. for $21.7M five years after acquiring it from AEW and MRP Realty for $27.9M. The 80K SF property was fully available as of a listing from 2024 via LoopNet.
***
Klosed Properties and Namdar Realty Group acquired 140 Essex St., a 10K SF, fully leased retail condo in Essex Crossing, for $7.5M from Taconic Capital. Tenants include 375 Showroom and Everything’s Fine.
***
An entity linked to Golden East Investors acquired the ground lease for 350 E. 52nd St., a 137-unit Turtle Bay apartment building, through bankruptcy proceedings, PincusCo reported. Golden East Investors obtained a $12M loan from Farmers Life Insurance Co. for the $13.5M acquisition. The fee is owned by the estate of Sol Goldman. The property’s prior debt was $32M.
