Aurora Capital Associates ups debt to $50M for Meatpacking retail, office, with $33.7M gap loan

Aurora Capital Associates through the entity 2 Ninth Avenue Partners LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Webster Bank valued at $50 million for the office building (O5) at 2 Ninth Avenue in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan.
Aurora Capital Associates’s loan closed on February 22, 2023 and was recorded on March 2, 2023. The prior lender was Webster Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $18.3 million. The property has 39,068 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $1,279 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 Aurora Capital Associates was Robert Cayre. The signatory for Webster Bank was Nelson Ornelas. The refinancing includes a $33.7 million gap loan.

Prior sales and revenue

The 39,068-square-foot property generated revenue of $3.3 million or $86 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The 2 9th Avenue parcel has frontage of 77 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 7,727 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-5 which allows for up to 5 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The property is in the Gansevoort Market Historic District. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $13.8 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 one DOB violation and $5,000 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 block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the two commercial properties representing 39,068 square feet of the 147,668 square feet. The identified owner is William Gottlieb Real Estate.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 74 percent of the 147,668 square feet of built space are hotel buildings, with office buildings next occupying 26 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Aurora Capital Associates owned at least 14 commercial properties in New York City with 833,135 square feet and a city-determined market value of $250 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $313.8 million in debt, with top three lenders as Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, New York Community Bank, and Wells Fargo respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 37 percent of the 833,135 square feet of built space are retail properties, with specialty properties next occupying 26 percent of the space. The bulk, or 71 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 27 percent of the space.

Direct link to Acris document. link