Alchemy Properties signs $57M loan modification with Signature Bank for office in Grand Central

Alchemy Properties through the entity Cp/Ipers Alchemy 43rd Street Owner LLC as borrower signed a loan modification with lender Signature Bank valued at $57 million for the office building (O4) at 211 East 43rd Street in Grand Central, Manhattan.
The deal closed on December 20, 2022 and was recorded on December 23, 2022. The prior lender was Signature Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $65 million.

The property has 177,000 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $322 per the PincusCo analysis. (The price per square foot analysis is the transaction price divided by square feet as reported in public records and assumes no air rights have been sold.)
The signatory for Alchemy Properties was Joel Breitkopf. The signatory for Signature Bank was Gregory Fantauzzi. The borrower maded a payment of $3.5 million to reduce the principal from the existing $60.5 million. The original principal was $65 million provided in 2015. The loan matures on January 10, 2025.

Prior sales and revenue

The 177,000-square-foot property generated revenue of $10.6 million or $60 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The 211 East 43rd Street parcel has frontage of 50 feet and is 200 feet deep with a total lot size of 10,041 square feet. The zoning is C5-3 which allows for up to 15 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $52 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $3,485 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $5 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Grand Central, the majority, or 81 percent of the 43.5 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space. In sales, Grand Central has 2.8 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $973 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 15th highest in Manhattan. For development, Grand Central has 1.7 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 17th highest in Manhattan. It had 1.8 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 4 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of eight of the 15 commercial properties representing 1,062,467 square feet of the 1,514,586 square feet. The largest owner is BLDG Management, followed by Sol Goldman Investments and then Safehold.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 72 percent of the 1.2 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space.

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