Joy Construction signs $96.5M refi with Varde for 186-unit rental in Hudson Yards
Joy Construction through the entity West 35th Sbxlvi, LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Varde Partners through the entity VMC CRE Master Lending Upper REIT LLC valued at $96.5 million for the 186-unit residential elevator building (D7) at 411-421 West 35th Street in Hudson Yards, Manhattan.
The deal closed on July 8, 2025 and was recorded on July 14, 2025. The prior lender was Natixis which held debt that had an original loan amount of $97 million. The property has 178,414 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $540 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 August 1, 2024, for $2.5 million. The signatory for Joy Construction was Eliezer S. Weiss . The signatory for Varde Partners was Anders Gode .
Prior sales and revenue
The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Moses Berkovics, head officer and Abe Friedman, agent. The business entities are West 35th Sbxlvi Llc and West 35th Sbxlvi Llc. The 178,414-square-foot property generated revenue of $9.7 million or $54 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.
The property
The residential elevator building with 186 residential units in Hudson Yards has 178,414 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 164 feet and is 208 feet deep with a total lot size of 22,467 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R8A which allows for up to 6.02 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The property has a 421A exemption that started in 2020 and expires in 2030. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $55.7 million. The most recent loan totaled $97 million and was provided by Natixis on July 7, 2022. The property has 186 rent regulated units according to city tax records from 2023.
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, $2,500 in ECB penalties, and $2,500 in OATH penalties in the last year.
Development
For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on February 7, 2018. There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.
The block
On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 19 of the 24 commercial properties representing 395,751 square feet of the 395,751 square feet. The largest owner is Joy Construction, followed by Shashin S. Gandhi and then Fred Rosenberg.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.
The majority, or 70 percent of the 395,751 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space.
The borrower
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Joy Construction owned at least 10 commercial properties with 1,644 residential units in New York City with 559,305 square feet and a city-determined market value of $173.5 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $127 million in debt, borrowed from Natixis and Bank Leumi. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 50 percent of the 559,305 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with development properties next occupying 22 percent of the space. The bulk, or 71 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 20 percent of the space.
Direct link to Acris document. link