Lightstone ups debt to $110M with Apollo for Moxy hotel in Lower East Side

Lightstone Group through the entity Bowery Street Associates LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Apollo Global Management through the entity Athene Annuity And Life Company valued at $110 million for the Moxy NYC Lower East Side hotel building (H2) at 151 Bowery in Lower East Side, Manhattan. Moxy is a Marriott brand of hotels.
The deal closed on August 29, 2023 and was recorded on December 11, 2023. The prior lender was MSD Partners which held debt that had an original loan amount of $90 million.

The property has 100,870 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $1,090 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 December 3, 2018, for $27.9 million. The signatory for Lightstone Group was Joseph E. Teichman. The signatory for Apollo Global Management was Jeffrey Horowitz.

The property

The hotel building in Lower East Side has 100,870 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 101 feet and is 110 feet deep with a total lot size of 11,511 square feet. The lot is irregular. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $11 million. The most recent loan totaled $90 million and was provided by MSD Partners on June 3, 2021.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was involved in one lawsuit and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The suit was a $2.4 million money judgment concerning a construction filed on May 28, 2023, by Beal Stream Ventures against Lightstone Group. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $5,665 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On the lot, there was a new building construction project for a 303-unit, 88,471 square-foot hotel (R-1) building submitted by Lightstone Group and filed by Meghan Bobertz with plans filed April 12, 2019 and permitted September 1, 2020.

The neighborhood

In Lower East Side, The majority, or 51 percent of the 23.8 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, Lower East Side has 1.4 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $493.1 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 25th highest in Manhattan. For development, Lower East Side has 1.3 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 20th highest in Manhattan. It had 1.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 5 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the 20 commercial properties representing 217,005 square feet of the 328,471 square feet. The largest owner is Wai Kuen Wong, followed by Tommy Yuen and then Lightstone Group.
On the tax block, there were three new building construction projects totaling 150,356 square feet. The largest is a 303-unit, 88,471 square-foot hotel/dormitory/shelter (R-1) building submitted by Lightstone Group and filed by Meghan Bobertz with plans filed April 12, 2019 and permitted February 4, 2020. The second largest is a 19-unit, 53,364 square-foot business (B) building submitted by Hung Kwong Leung with plans filed June 10, 2014 and permitted July 5, 2018.

The majority, or 34 percent of the 328,471 square feet of built space are hotel buildings, with office buildings next occupying 34 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Lightstone Group owned at least 34 commercial properties with 2,314 residential units in New York City with 2,823,226 square feet and a city-determined market value of $351.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $1.2 billion in debt, with top three lenders as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and JLL respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 61 percent of the 2,823,226 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with hotel properties next occupying 17 percent of the space. The bulk, or 37 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Queens next at 26 percent of the space.

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