JEMB Realty signs $300M refi loan with Bank of Montreal for retail in Penn Plaza

JEMB Realty through the entity Herald Center Department Store Of New York LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Bank of Montreal through the entity Bank Of Montreal valued at $300 million for the retail building at 1293 Broadway in Penn Plaza, Manhattan.
The deal closed on January 3, 2025 and was recorded on January 10, 2025. The prior lender was Series 2015-C25 and MSBAM 2015-C25 which held debt that had an original loan amount of $255 million. The property has 258,412 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $1,160 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 JEMB Realty was Joseph L. Jerome. The signatory for Bank of Montreal was Leanne Lispi.

The property

The specialty building in Penn Plaza has 258,412 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 173 feet and is 150 feet deep with a total lot size of 24,393 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C6-6 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 $151.8 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received one DOB violation and $3,800 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 $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Penn Plaza, The majority, or 76 percent of the 20.4 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space. In sales, Penn Plaza has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $294.3 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 25th highest in Manhattan. For development, Penn Plaza has 3.5 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 7th highest in Manhattan. It had 3.9 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 19 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 12 of the 23 commercial properties representing 1,038,848 square feet of the 1,440,387 square feet. The largest owner is Empire State Realty Trust, followed by Vornado Realty Trust and then Russell L. Nype.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 64 percent of the 1.4 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space.

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