Hackman Capital, Square Mile finance Astoria Studios purchase with $340M Deutsche Bank loan

Hackman Capital Partners has financed their acquisition of Kaufman Astoria Studios with a $340 million loan from Deutsche Bank, public records show. Hackman acquired the studio for a valuation of $600 million, according to media reports. Hackman recorded entity level purchases totaling just under $390 million earlier this month.

The newly recorded loan covers five properties including the specialty building at 34-12 36th Street in Astoria, Queens, office building at 36-06 34th Avenue in Astoria, Queens, and retail building at 35-01 36th Street in Astoria, Queens. As well as 34-37 36th street and 35-23 35th Avenue.

These five properties are the same as those acquired in November by Hackman Capital Partners in a joint venture with Square Mile. The loan closed November 8, 2021 and was recorded on January 14, 2022.

Managing Principal of Hackman Capital Partners Brent Iloulian signed for the company through the entity Astoria Studios Limited Partnership II. Other entities in the deal included Kas Production Center LLC, New Stage LLC, Studio Street LLC, Astoria On Stage LLC, Astoria Blackwell LLC, Kas Lighting LLC, and Kaufman Astoria Studios Services LLC. James Huddleston and Jon Tilli were the signatories for Deutsch Bank.

Hackman Capital Partners did not immediately respond to a PincusCo request for comment.

The five properties have 508,354 square feet of built space and 638,666 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 1,146,450 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $668 and the price per buildable square foot is $296 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.)

Out of the five properties, two with a total of 508,354 square feet of built space generated revenue of $4.6 million per year. Over the past five years, there have been five NYC Department of Buildings permit applications filed for this parcel valued at more than $20,000. There were five renovation/alteration projects (A2) applied for with a total estimated value of $1.3 million.

In Astoria, the majority, or 27 percent of the 54.6 million square feet of built space are residential walkup buildings, with residential elevator buildings next occupying 23 percent of the space. In sales, Astoria has 2.8 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $761.9 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 2nd highest in Queens.

For development, Astoria has 3.5 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 4th highest in Queens. It had 3.2 million square feet of commercial and multifamily construction under development in the last two years, which represents 6 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

Within a 400-foot radius of 34-12 36th Street, PincusCo identified five commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those five items, three were sales above $5 million totaling $219.8 million. The most recent of the three was Hackman Capital Partners which bought the 0-square-foot development site (V1) on 35-23 35th Avenue for $6.6 million from Kaufman Astoria Studios on January 13, 2022.

Of those five items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $32.5 million. The most recent of the two was Francisco Diaz which borrowed $6 million from People’s United Bank secured by the 14,000-square-foot, one-unit retail building (K1) on 34-12 35th Street on January 10, 2022.

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