Shimmie Horn’s Triumph signs $21M refi for closed hotel in Hell’s Kitchen

Shimmie Horn’s Triumph Hotels through the entity Washington Jefferson Holdings LLC as borrower signed a refi with lender Popular Bank valued at $21 million for the currently closed Washington Jefferson Hotel building (H3) at 318 West 51st Street in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan.
The deal closed on October 1, 2024 and was recorded on October 9, 2024. The prior lender was Citizens Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $20 million.The property has 54,568 square feet of built space and 18,589 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 73,143 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $384 and the price per buildable square foot is $287 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 Triumph Hotels was Shimmie Horn. The signatory for Popular Bank was David Rabban.

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Shimmie Horn, head officer and Gerald Barad, officer. The business entity is Washington Jefferson Holdings Llc.

The property

The hotel building in Hell’s Kitchen has 54,568 square feet of built space and 18,589 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 73,143 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 121 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 12,150 square feet. The zoning is R8 which allows for up to 6.02 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $16.5 million. The property has 101 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, $1,250 in ECB penalties, two housing violations, and $1,250 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

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 Hell’s Kitchen, The bulk, or 39 percent of the 40.8 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space. In sales, Hell’s Kitchen has 2.7 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $692.9 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 13th highest in Manhattan. For development, Hell’s Kitchen has 2.7 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 10th highest in Manhattan. It had 3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 7 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 14 of the 25 commercial properties representing 827,223 square feet of the 921,302 square feet. The largest owner is Equity Residential, followed by Standard Companies and then Hersel Torkian.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 74 percent of the 921,302 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Triumph Hotels owned at least five commercial properties in New York City with 560,788 square feet and a city-determined market value of $129.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $128.1 million in debt, borrowed from Apple Bank for Savings and Popular Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 90 percent of the 560,788 square feet of built space are hotel properties, with N9 properties next occupying 9 percent of the space. The bulk, or 91 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 9 percent of the space.

Direct link to Acris document. link