Argo Real Estate signs $47M refi for development in Greenwich Village
Argo Real Estate through the entity 64 Owner LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Deutsche Bank valued at $47 million for the development building (V1) at 64 University Place in Greenwich Village, Manhattan.
The deal closed on May 31, 2023 and was recorded on June 16, 2023. The prior lender was Fortress Investment Group which held debt that had an original loan amount of $47 million.
The property has zero square feet of built space and 39,274 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 39,274 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data.
The owner bought the property on June 27, 2019, for $30 million. The signatory for Argo Real Estate was Mark Moskowitz. The signatory for Deutsche Bank was Thomas C. Vasile and Christopher Harris.
The property
The parcel has frontage of 65 feet and is 105 feet deep with a total lot size of 6,524 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C1-7 which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 6.02 times FAR for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2.9 million. The most recent loan totaled $47 million and was provided by Fortress Investment Group on June 25, 2021.
Violations and lawsuits
There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received two DOB violations, $16,370 in ECB penalties, and $17,370 in OATH penalties in the last year.
Development
On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a 28-unit, 55,474 square-foot R-2 building. The project was submitted by Bsafal and filed by Ameesh Agarwal with plans filed March 31, 2021 and permitted November 19, 2021. On the tax lot, the most recent condominium plan was filed by 64 Owner LLC to create 28 residential units and 1 commercial units in a building at 64 University Place in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, called 64 University Place Condominiumthat has a $134.7 million sellout, according to an June 23, 2022 submission to the New York State Attorney General. The principals of the sponsor, 64 OWNER LLC, were Ameesh` Agarwal and Mark Moskowitz.
The neighborhood
In Greenwich Village, The bulk, or 24 percent of the 22.4 million square feet of commercial built space are specialty buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 17 percent of the space. In sales, Greenwich Village has 3.2 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $1.1 billion in sales volume in the last two years and is the 12th highest in Manhattan. For development, Greenwich Village has 2.7 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 13th highest in Manhattan. It had 2.7 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 12 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.
The block
On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the nine commercial properties representing 155,978 square feet of the 203,184 square feet. The two identified owners are New York University and Argo Real Estate.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 55,474 square feet. It is a 28-unit, 55,474 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Bsafal and filed by Ameesh Agarwal with plans filed March 31, 2021 and permitted November 19, 2021.
The majority, or 69 percent of the 203,184 square feet of built space are hotel buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space.
The borrower
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Argo Real Estate owned at least 22 commercial properties with 1,573 residential units in New York City with 1,591,953 square feet and a city-determined market value of $202.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $144.3 million in debt, with top three lenders as Fortress Investment Group, Capital One, and Apple Bank for Savings respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 75 percent of the 1,591,953 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with D4 properties next occupying 19 percent of the space. The bulk, or 59 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Manhattan next at 41 percent of the space.
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