Gehr Group signs $54.5M loan amendment with Guardian Life for hotel building in Garment District

Gehr Group through the entity Times Square Hospitality I, LLC as borrower signed a loan amendment with lender Guardian Life Insurance Company of America valued at $54.5 million for the hotel building at 326 West 40th Street in Garment District, Manhattan.
The deal closed on February 1, 2022 and was recorded on February 16, 2022. The prior lender was Guardian Life Insurance Company of America which held debt that had an original loan amount of $54.5 million, last amended in 2021
The property has 98,738 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $551 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 June 1, 2011, for $112 million.
The signatory for Gehr Group was David Lifschitz. The signatory for Guardian Life Insurance Company of America was Salem McMullan.
(104160195)The DOB issued a new construction (NB) initial temporary certificate of occupancy for the building with 240 residential units on September 17, 2012. (104160195) Plans for a 240-unit, 0 square-foot J-1 were filed on July 7, 2005 and were permitted on November 14, 2006.
In Garment District, the majority, or 69 percent of the 53 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 12 percent of the space. In sales, Garment District has 4.1 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $1.1 billion in sales volume in the last two years and is the 9th highest in Manhattan. For development, Garment District has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 561,900 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 1 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other hotel buildings in the past 12 months.
On the tax block, the majority, or 72 percent of the 1.6 million square feet of built space are hotel buildings, with office buildings next occupying 19 percent of the space.
The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes David Lifschitz, head officer and Ron Bhandari, site manager. The business entities are Real Hospitality Group, Llc and Times Square Hospitality I, Llc.
Within a 400-foot radius of 326 West 40th Street, Pincusco identified 15 commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those 15 items, five were sales above $5 million totaling $528.4 million. The most recent of the five was Haitau Bian which bought six condo units in the 1,525-square-foot, 10-unit mixed-use building (RM) on 355 West 39th Street and four other properties for $7 million from Man Hei Li on January 21, 2022.
Of those 15 items, 10 were loans above $5 million totaling $827 million. The most recent of the 10 was Haitau Bian which borrowed $6 million from Golden Bridge Funding secured by six condo units in the 1,525-square-foot, 10-unit mixed-use building (RM) on 355 West 39th Street and four other properties on January 21, 2022.

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