BD Hotels signs $46M refi for Ludlow Hotel on LES

Richard Born and Ira Drucker’s BD Hotels through the entity 180 Ludlow Development LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Bank of America valued at $46 million for the Ludlow Hotel building (H2) at 180 Ludlow Street in the Lower East Side, Manhattan.
The deal closed on January 24, 2025 and was recorded on February 4, 2025. The prior lender was Apple Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $45.5 million.The property has 82,411 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $558 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 owner bought the property on March 14, 2007, for $10 million. The signatory for BD Hotels was Richard Born. The signatory for Bank of America was Jessica Fritts.

Prior sales and revenue

The owner according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development is Matthew Samek, head officer. The business entity is The Ludlow Hotel. The 82,411-square-foot property generated revenue of $25.3 million or $307 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The hotel building in Lower East Side has 82,411 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 75 feet and is 90 feet deep with a total lot size of 6,806 square feet. The zoning is C4-4A which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 4 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $34.3 million.

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 and $3,000 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on May 30, 2014. There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Lower East Side, The majority, or 51 percent of the 23.8 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, Lower East Side has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $234.4 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 28th highest in Manhattan. For development, Lower East Side has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 623,066 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 3 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 13 of the 34 commercial properties representing 390,770 square feet of the 554,815 square feet. The largest owner is Edison Properties, followed by Bd Hotels and then Tatar Holding.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 130,359 square feet. It is a 89-unit, 130,359 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Brandon Miller|Marc Ravner|Benjamin Shaoul|Mark Siegel|Zak* Tendle* and filed by Hesky Haim with plans filed January 4, 2013 and permitted January 12, 2017.

The majority, or 40 percent of the 554,815 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 37 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Bd Hotels owned at least 15 commercial properties with 111 residential units in New York City with 1,059,991 square feet and a city-determined market value of $385.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 99 percent of the 1,059,991 square feet of built space are hotel properties, with walkup properties next occupying 1 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

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