Blackstone Lends Real Estate Developer $258m to Refurbish Manhattan Apartment Block

U.S. real estate developer Related Companies has borrowed $258m from Blackstone to renovate an apartment building in Manhattan in a deal that shows confidence in the luxury housing market in New York despite the pandemic.

The onset of coronavirus was difficult for high-end property owners in New York, as thousands of residents fled to the alleged safety of second homes in New York City. the Hamptons on Long Island, New England or Florida.

Trends in luxury rentals and sales are now improving in the most populous city in America, according to data. Related, the developer behind the sprawling Manhattan Hudson yards project, plans to use the funds from Blackstone to renovate a rental building in the Tribeca area and sell the apartments to wealthy residents and investors.

“New York City has shown incredible resilience over the past year and a half, and we are currently experiencing the strongest housing market in recent history,” Related CEO Jeff Blau told the Financial Times.

The building, known as Truffles Tribeca, consists of two towers connected by an airlift near the Hudson River. Related bought the complex for $ 260m in 2019 and is trying to take advantage of the transformation of Tribeca from a faded commercial district into an expensive neighborhood.

The company, founded by the billionaire developer Stephen Ross, emptied the decade-old building in preparation for an interior renovation that would involve the interior and replacement of the facade, according to people familiar with the related plans.

“Lenders [were] to climb over themselves to take part in this event, ”said Jordan Roeschlaub, co-head of the structured finance group at Newmark, a real estate advisory firm.

These renovations are funded by a Blackstone construction loan. One of the largest real estate investors in the world, the private equity group, has a large presence in New York, limited Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, an 11,250-unit apartment complex that bought it in 2015.

A recent surge in the New York real estate market could confirm Blackstone’s decision to bolster its focus on urban real estate during the pandemic. “People are currently fleeing cities,” Jon Gray, chief operating officer of Blackstone, said in October last year. ‘We think it will come back, but there is an opportunity to invest in it at attractive prices.

Sales of apartments and cooperative units in the city recovered in the second quarter of this year, with 3,417 closures in Manhattan, more than double the number in the same period last year. Real estate agency Douglas Elliman said it was the busiest period of three months since 2015.

Luxury rentals have also attracted new residents. According to the owner of the building, Brookfield Asset Management, the undulating apartment tower of architect Frank Gehry was nearly a third vacant during the depths of the pandemic. This month, the company said, the New York at Gehry building was 965 occupied.

Source: AFE Games 

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