Lightstone Capital, the real estate debt platform of Lightstone, announced today that it has provided a $52 million senior loan for a two-building, 152,000-square-foot portfolio of commercial properties in Manhattan’s Midtown South.
The transaction enables the sponsor, R&B Realty Group, to refinance an existing loan on the properties, located at 28 West 36th Street and at 32-36 West 39th Street.
Lightstone Capital provides sponsors with flexible, creative, and immediate financing solutions. Loans range in size from $5 million up to $100 million and are secured by real estate assets located in gateway markets.
The West 36th property is a 12-story, 66,000-square-foot, Class B multi-tenant office building. Its tenants are a diverse variety of smaller businesses including a fashion/photo studio, professional services, an e-commerce firm, among others. It has retail space on the first floor.
The West 39th building is a 14-story, 86,000-square-foot Class B multi-tenant office building, also with ground-floor retail. While currently a rental property, it is in the process of being converted to office condominiums, with full sales expected to begin by Q3 2022.
“Lightstone Capital prides itself on its speed of execution and we closed in 10 business days,” said Eugene Rozovsky, Senior Managing Director, who leads Lightstone Capital. We have closed more than $200 million in loans in Q1 2022 and expect to hit $750 million this year, he added.
“This portfolio consists of a high-quality, cash-flowing office building offering affordable rents and a best-in-class boutique commercial condominium building with competitive pricing, both in excellent locations,” Rozovsky added. “It has a diverse tenant base, from professional services to family businesses to entrepreneurs. These buildings are historically 90 percent occupied and we believe the condominiums will sell briskly.”
The properties are located in Midtown South, within a six-block radius of Bryant Park, Penn Station, Grand Central Station, Madison Square Garden, the Empire State Building, and other highly recognizable landmarks and transportation hubs. This location is one of the most densely developed areas in the U.S. and provides easy access throughout New York City. The West 39th Street property is adjacent to Amazon’s Fifth Avenue headquarters.
The opportunity was presented to Lightstone Capital by Lantern Real Estate.
“We are glad to have worked on R&B Realty Group’s behalf to procure this financing from Lightstone,” said Tal Bar-or, co-founder of Lantern. “All parties worked tirelessly to close this transaction in only 10 business days, illustrating our team-focused work ethic and strength of relationships.”
