Hope Street Capital signs $126.2M refi with MF1 Capital for two properties in Clinton Hill

Hope Street Capital through the entity 50 Clinton Partners LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender MF1 Capital valued at $126.2 million for two properties including the 264-unit residential elevator building (D6) at 545 Vanderbilt Avenue in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn and development building (V1) at 550 Clinton Avenue in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on November 10, 2022 and was recorded on November 16, 2022. The prior lender was Pacific Western Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $129.3 million.
The signatory for Hope Street Capital was Jeffrey Gershon. The signatory for MF1 Capital was Jonathan Pfeil.

Because multiple properties have been transacted, some of the following sections will follow the property with the largest assessed value, which in this case, is the property on 545 Vanderbilt Avenue.

The property

The 545 Vanderbilt Avenue parcel has frontage of 131 feet and is 80 feet deep with a total lot size of 10,621 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R9 which allows for up to 7.52 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $13.2 million.The most recent loan totaled $129.3 million and was provided by Square Mile Capital Management on November 27, 2019.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received one DOB violation, $15,000 in ECB penalties, and $16,000 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On these lots, there are two active new building construction projects and major alteration projects with initial costs more than $5 million, totaling 576,180 square feet. The largest is a new building project for a 20-unit, 288,090 square-foot R-2 building developed by Hope Street Capital with plans filed September 26, 2018 and permitted October 8, 2020. The second largest is a new building project for a 264-unit, 288,090 square-foot R-2 building developed by Hope Street Capital with plans filed April 8, 2019 and permitted September 14, 2020.

The block

On the tax block of 545 Vanderbilt Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the 19 commercial properties representing 311,641 square feet of the 373,052 square feet. The largest owner is Hope Street Capital, followed by Daten Group and then Elizabeth McDonald.
On the tax block, there were four new building construction projects totaling 622,184 square feet. The largest is a 20-unit, 288,090-square-foot R-2 building developed by Hope Street Capital with plans filed September 26, 2018 and permitted August 3, 2020. The second largest is a 264-unit, 288,090-square-foot R-2 building developed by Hope Street Capital with plans filed April 8, 2019 and permitted June 16, 2020.

The majority, or 86 percent of the 373,052 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 10 percent of the space.

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