Feil Organization, Malkin Holdings sign $120M refi with Signature Bank for office in Grand Central

Feil Organization and Malkin Holdings through the entity French Partners LLC (and others) as borrowers signed a refi loan with lender Signature Bank valued at $120 million for the office building (O4) at 551 Fifth Avenue in Grand Central, Manhattan.
The deal closed on November 1, 2022 and was recorded on November 21, 2022. The prior lender was MetLife which held debt that had an original loan amount of $130 million. The property has 427,158 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $280 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 Feil Organization and Malkin Holdings was Jeffrey J. Feil and Anthony E. Malkin. The signatory for Signature Bank was Kim Carson. Anthony E. Malkin leads Empire State Realty Trust.

Prior sales and revenue

The 427,158-square-foot property generated revenue of $31.2 million or $73 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The 551 5th Avenue parcel has frontage of 78 feet and is 200 feet deep with a total lot size of 18,950 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C5-3 which allows for up to 15 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $156.2 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 $1,550 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 neighborhood

In Grand Central, the majority, or 80 percent of the 43.9 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space. In sales, Grand Central has 2.5 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $875.2 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 17th highest in Manhattan. For development, Grand Central has 1.2 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 22nd highest in Manhattan. It had 1.2 million 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 five of the 14 commercial properties representing 1,350,312 square feet of the 1,862,980 square feet. The largest owner is Feil Organization, followed by PIA Investments Ltd. and then Heirs of Milton Kimmelman.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 58 percent of the 1.5 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 41 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Feil Organization owned at least 39 commercial properties in New York City with 7,746,901 square feet and a city-determined market value of $1.6 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $248.6 million in debt, with top three lenders as Capital One, Granite Point Mortgage Trust, and First Republic Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 49 percent of the 7,746,901 square feet of built space are office properties, with elevator properties next occupying 24 percent of the space. The bulk, or 62 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Queens next at 20 percent of the space.

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