Dalan buys just under $140M in Croman debt, secured by rentals, mansion

UPDATED, 11 a.m., December 11, 2024: Daniel Wrublin’s Dalan Real Estate purchased 12 loans from Axos Bank secured by 20 properties with 346 apartment units owned by Steven Croman and his Croman Real Estate, one of the city’s largest multifamily owners. Many of his assets are managed by his affiliate Centennial Properties NY.
While most of these properties were multifamily, not all were. Three were adjacent retail buildings in East Harlem, and one was Croman’s personal residence, a 49-foot-wide, 15,416-square-foot mansion in Lenox Hill on East 72nd Street.
The Real Deal reported on this transaction last month, noting Dalan Real Estate purchased approximately $140 million in loans secured by Croman multifamily and mixed-use buildings, but did not mention the mansion. Croman told the publication that he’s current on the loans.
A source familiar with the transaction said there were a total of 12 loans, including the mansion loan, with an original principal of slightly under $140 million.

Of the total of 12 loans, 11 totaling about $113 million were recorded on December 10, while another loan was recorded on December 3, that had about $25.4 million of outstanding debt. Taken together, there was a total of about $138.4 million of total debt, according to the PincusCo calculation.

The PincusCo database indicates that Croman Real Estate owned at least 143 commercial properties with 1,573,821 square feet, 2,496 residential units and a city-determined market value of $584.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $200.4 million in debt (of $5 million or more issued since 2020), with top three lenders as New York Community Bank, Axos Bank, and Dime Community Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 79 percent of the 1,573,821 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with elevator properties next occupying 17 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Dalan Real Estate owned at least 45 commercial properties with 1,357,345 square feet, 1,361 residential units and a city-determined market value of $358.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 69 percent of the 1,357,345 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 19 percent of the space. The bulk, or 51 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 49 percent of the space. The Wrublin family also owns property through other companies not counted here.

Dalan Real Estate borrowed an undisclosed amount from Axos Bank as part of this loan purchase transaction, memorialized in collateral assignments from Dalan to Axos in each transaction, city records show. Many of these loans were originated in 2020. The Dalan note buyer entity for the multifamily and commercial properties was NYC Multifamily Portfolio LLC, and for the mansion the note buyer was NYC SFR Portfolio LLC.

In the largest transaction, Dalan Real Estate through the entity NYC Multifamily Portfolio LLC bought a note with an original principal of $34.4 million from Axos Bank secured by Croman Real Estate’s 92-unit residential elevator building (D3) at 326-340 East 100th Street in East Harlem, Manhattan, two-unit mixed-use building (S2) at 153 Rivington Street in Lower East Side, Manhattan, and three-unit mixed-use building (S3) at 151 Rivington Street in Lower East Side, Manhattan.

In the second largest, Dalan Real Estate through the entity NYC SFR Portfolio LLC bought a note with an original principal of $31 million from Axos Bank secured by Steven Croman’s single-family building (A7) on East 72nd Street in Lenox Hill, Manhattan.
The deal closed on October 29, 2024 and was recorded on December 10, 2024. The prior lender was Axos Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $31 million.The property has 15,416 square feet of built space and 34,641 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 50,060 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data.

In the third-largest, Dalan Real Estate through the entity Axos Bank bought a note with an original principal of $13.8 million from Axos Bank secured by Croman Real Estate’s 48-unit residential walkup building (C7) at 20-22 Prince Street in Nolita, Manhattan.
The deal closed on October 29, 2024 and was recorded on December 10, 2024. The prior lender was Axos Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $13.8 million. The property has 22,902 square feet of built space and 11,730 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 34,615 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data.

The other properties are 340 East 58th Street, 221 Mott Street, 420-424 West 51st Street, 44 Avenue B, 102 East 7th Street, 179 Essex Street, 1982 3rd Avenue, 1978 3rd Avenue, and 1980 3rd Avenue, 2154 2nd Avenue, and also the home on East 72nd Street.

Correction: An earlier version of this post did not include the note sale with about $25.4 million outstanding that was recorded on December 3. Those properties were 1345 Amsterdam Avenue, 277 East 10th Street, 279 East 10th Street, 52 Barrow Street and 521 East 5th Street.

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