Breakdown of Alchemy-ABR’s $350M Billionaires’ Row office project

By Adam Pincus

Alchemy-ABR Investment Partners and its financial partner Cain International paid $130 million to Calvary Baptist Church for 125 West 57th Street, and plan to demolish the existing 16-story building and develop a 257,924-square foot office, retail and church tower, according to plans filed when the church petitioned for court approval of the sale.

Alchemy-ABR paid $130 million to the church, but it’s not the windfall it appears to be.

Of that $130 million, the church will contribute about $55 million to the construction of their new 78,310-square foot sanctuary. Another $41 million will be spent fitting out that new space. It will spend about $15 million closing down the hotel, including $10.5 million for union employee severance, about $4 million in transaction fees and the balance of about $10 million remains for its church mission.

The church anticipates spending another $5 million for temporary spaces over the next several years while the new building is under construction.

As for construction, the developers price the hard costs, based on the 2019 plan, at $152 million, or about $590 per square foot. The soft costs are $5.8 million for design professionals including about $3.1 million for architecture. Consultants cost another $2.8 million including a construction consultant at $600,000 and an optical and vibration monitoring consultant at $400,000.
The plan prices legal at $1.57 million, marketing and advertising at $3.57 million, administration and operations at $3.7 million and project management at $7.5 million.
The lender and loan fees are set at $3.1 million, mortgage recording tax at $6.1 million and the construction loan interest reserve at $26 million.
As for construction, the most expensive item is the exterior wall and entrances, at $27.9 million. That was more than the structural steel, which was $16 million and the concrete superstructure, which was $11.4 million.

Jeffrey Cooper was identified as the sole broker on the sale transaction.

The New York Post reported on the headwinds the project faced, including losing its original financing partners. Ultimately Alchemy-ABR closed on the deal last month.