Lonicera Partners signs $128M construction loan for 290-unit project in Downtown Brooklyn

Lonicera Partners through the entity Willoughby Owner LLC as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender Santander Bank valued at $128 million for the 290-unit project at 55 Willoughby Street in Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on May 31, 2023 and was recorded on June 7, 2023. The prior lender was Transworld Equities which held debt that had a loan amount of $25.5 million.

On the parcel, there is one new building construction project filed totaling 227,976 square feet. It is a 290-unit, 227,976 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Lonicera Partners and filed by John Evans with plans filed December 30, 2021 and permitted May 3, 2022.

The owner bought the property on December 31, 2021, for $48 million. The signatory for Lonicera Partners was Jamie Anthony.

In addition, yesterday Lonicera Partners and Meadow Partners recorded two property records that indicate Meadow Partners sold about 111,000 square feet of development rights to Lonicera Partners for $15 million, or about $135 per square foot.

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 three DOB violations, $10,000 in ECB penalties, and $12,550 in OATH penalties in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Downtown Brooklyn, The bulk, or 40 percent of the 22.4 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 24 percent of the space. In sales, Downtown Brooklyn has 3.9 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $1.4 billion in sales volume in the last two years and is the 2nd highest in Brooklyn. For development, Downtown Brooklyn has 3.7 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 4th highest in Brooklyn. It had 3.7 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 17 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the five commercial properties representing 1,135,680 square feet of the 1,150,080 square feet. The largest owner is Meadow Partners, followed by MDG Design + Construction and then Lonicera Partners.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 227,976 square feet. It is a 290-unit, 227,976 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Lonicera Partners and filed by John Evans with plans filed December 30, 2021 and permitted May 3, 2022.

The majority, or 98 percent of the 1.2 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 2 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Lonicera Partners owned at least 12 commercial properties with 178 residential units in New York City with 259,015 square feet and a city-determined market value of $51 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $176.1 million in debt, with top three lenders as Santander Bank, City National Bank, and Trans World Equities respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 55 percent of the 259,015 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with development properties next occupying 14 percent of the space. The bulk, or 98 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Queens next at 2 percent of the space.

Direct link to Acris document. link