Sage Hall Partners signs $35M loan with Citizens Bank for hotel in Grand Central

Sage Hall Partners through the entity 46 Turtle Bay LLC as borrower signed a initial loan with lender Citizens Bank valued at $35 million for the 95-unit hotel building (HS) at 234 East 46th Street in Grand Central, Manhattan.
The deal closed on November 21, 2024 and was recorded on January 6, 2025. The prior lender was Sage Hall Partners which held debt that had an original loan amount of $81 million. The property has 82,829 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $422 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 Sage Hall Partners was Jeffrey Fields.

Sage Hall Partners through the entity 46 Turtle Bay LLC acquired the former AKA United Nations hotel with $99 million in debts, through a foreclosure auction in April 2023. The prior owners were Shorewood Real Estate Group and Prodigy Network who lost the 95-unit hotel building (HS) at 234 East 46th Street in Grand Central, Manhattan following a foreclosure, 850006/2021.

The property

The hotel building with 95 residential units in Grand Central has 82,829 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 75 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 7,537 square feet. The zoning is R10 which allows for up to 10 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $13.2 million. The most recent loan totaled 0.0 and was provided by Sage Hall Partners on February 14, 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 $2,550 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on September 19, 2024. There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot. On the tax lot, the most recent condominium plan was filed by 234 EAST 46TH STREET PROPERTY OWNER LLC to create 95 residential units in a building at 234 East 46th Street in Midtown East, Manhattan, called Aka United Nations Condominium Residences that has a $109.9 million sellout, according to an February 19, 2015 submission to the New York State Attorney General. The principals of the sponsor, 234 EAST 46TH STREET PROPERTY OWNER LLC, were S. Lawrence Davis, Bradley Korman, Lawrence Korman, and Rodrigo Nino.

The neighborhood

In Grand Central, The majority, or 83 percent of the 44.4 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space. In sales, Grand Central has 3.5 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $895.2 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 10th highest in Manhattan. For development, Grand Central is the 6th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 5.8 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 13 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of seven of the 16 commercial properties representing 579,093 square feet of the 986,973 square feet. The largest owner is Durst Organization, followed by Sage Hall Partners and then Oak B Management.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 134,119 square feet. The largest is a 106-unit, 113,707 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by New Providence Supporting Housing and filed by Paul Woody with plans filed March 20, 2023 and permitted November 8, 2024. The second largest is a 15-unit, 20,412 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Eduard Slinin with plans filed October 7, 2015 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 79 percent of the 986,973 square feet of built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 9 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Sage Hall Partners owned at least one commercial property with 95 residential units in New York City with 82,829 square feet and a city-determined market value of $13.2 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio consists of at least a single hotel property. It is located in Manhattan.

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