Anonymous LLC buys $169M note secured by China Oceanwide Holdings’s FiDi dev site

The anonymous entity New York – 80 South Street, LLC bought a note with an latest principal of $169 million from DW Partners secured by China Oceanwide Holdings’s development site composed of the industrial building (E9) at 163 Front Street and office building (O2) at 80 South Street in Financial District, Manhattan.

Oceanwide has lost control of the project, according to reports from May 2022.
The deal closed on July 12, 2022 and was recorded on July 28, 2022. The prior lender was DW Partners which held debt that had an original loan amount of $169 million. The two properties have 102,318 square feet of built space and 44,659 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 147,010 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data.
The debt buyer is an anonymous company registered in Delaware created May 26, 2022. The original $175 million, two-year loan was first due in May 2021 but was given a 6-month extension, then declared in default according to news reports. China Oceanside Holdings bought the parcel in 2016 for $390 million, and it planned to build a supertall skyscraper but the project is stalled.

Because multiple properties have been transacted, some of the following sections will follow the property with the largest assessed value, which in this case, is the property on 163 Front Street.

The property

The 163 Front Street parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 162 feet deep with a total lot size of 6,552 square feet. The lot is irregular. 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 $6.2 million.The most recent loan totaled $169 million and was provided by DW Partners on May 22, 2021.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $680 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 Financial District, the majority, or 75 percent of the 81.3 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 15 percent of the space. In sales, Financial District has the 7th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.6 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Financial District is the 5th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 7.8 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 10 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 163 Front Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the 11 commercial properties representing 172,362 square feet of the 376,817 square feet. The two identified owners are Lam Generation and China Oceanwide Holdings. There are two active new building construction projects totaling 248,511 square feet. The largest is a 98-unit, 138,196-square-foot R-2 building developed by Akivia Kobre with plans filed May 9, 2014 and permitted February 12, 2016. The second largest is a 274-unit, 110,315-square-foot R-1 building developed by Richard Lou with plans filed August 14, 2014 and permitted April 6, 2017.

The majority, or 56 percent of the 372,517 square feet of built space are hotel buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 16 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that China Oceanwide Holdings owned at least two commercial properties in New York City with 102,318 square feet and a city-determined market value of $11.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $169 million in debt, borrowed from DW Partners. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 57 percent of the 102,318 square feet of built space are industrial properties, with office properties next occupying 43 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

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