Joseph Torres signs $41M refi for hotel in Greenpoint

Joseph Torres through the entity 77 Box Street Holding Company LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Morgan Stanley through the entity Morgan Stanley Bank valued at $41 million for the Box House Hotel building (H3) at 77 Box Street and 59 Box Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on March 13, 2025 and was recorded on March 27, 2025. The prior lender was Series 2019-C16 which held debt that had an original loan amount of $31 million. The two properties have 74,416 square feet of built space and 10,400 square feet of additional air rights according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $550 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 Joseph Torres was Joseph Torres.
Joseph Torres has been under financial pressure, with several foreclosure and bankruptcy cases over the past several years.

The property

The hotel building in Greenpoint has 74,416 square feet of built space and 10,400 square feet of additional air rights according to a PincusCo analysis of city data.  The zoning is M1-2 which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $5.8 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $8,935 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot buildings, two out of the two buildings received a initial certificate of occupancy in the last ten years. 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 Greenpoint, The bulk, or 29 percent of the 23.8 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 26 percent of the space. In sales, Greenpoint has 3.2 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $872.3 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 3rd highest in Brooklyn. For development, Greenpoint has 2.1 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 6th highest in Brooklyn. It had 2.4 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 10 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 59 Box Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the 12 commercial properties representing 29,660 square feet of the 174,148 square feet. The identified owner is Joseph Torres.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 43 percent of the 174,148 square feet of built space are hotel buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 29 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Joseph Torres owned at least five commercial properties with 97 residential units in New York City with 203,586 square feet and a city-determined market value of $45.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $56.9 million in debt, with top three lenders as Ellington Management Group, Citibank, and Edgewood Capital Advisors respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 48 percent of the 203,586 square feet of built space are hotel properties, with walkup properties next occupying 28 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

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