Slate signs $97M refi with Apollo for 137-unit rental in Forest Hills

Slate Property Group through the entity 105-02 Forest Hills LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Apollo Global Management through the entity Athene Annuity And Life Company valued at $97 million for the 137-unit residential elevator building (D6) at 105-02 Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills, Queens.
The deal closed on February 29, 2024 and was recorded on March 1, 2024. The prior lender was Security Benefit Life Insurance Company which held debt that had an original loan amount of $65 million.
The property has 182,614 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $531 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 Slate Property Group was Martin Nussbaum. The signatory for Apollo Global Management was Jeffrey Horowitz.

The property

The residential elevator building with 137 residential units in Forest Hills has 182,614 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 215 feet and is 97 feet deep with a total lot size of 26,824 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C4-5X which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 5 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $12.5 million. The most recent loan totaled $65 million and was provided by Cain International on June 8, 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 four DOB violations, six housing violations, $2,840 in OATH penalties, and one housing litigation in the last year.

Development

On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a 198-unit, 162,862 square-foot R-2 building. The project was submitted by Slate Property Group and filed by David Schwartz with plans filed November 13, 2017 and permitted February 22, 2022.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the three commercial properties representing 182,614 square feet of the 232,614 square feet. The identified owner is Richard Grobman.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 162,862 square feet. It is a 198-unit, 162,862 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Slate Property Group and filed by David Schwartz with plans filed November 13, 2017 and permitted February 12, 2021.

The majority, or 79 percent of the 232,614 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Slate Property Group owned at least 51 commercial properties with 2,528 residential units in New York City with 2,768,746 square feet and a city-determined market value of $719.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $1.2 billion in debt, with top three lenders as Mack Real Estate Group, Signature Bank, and PCCP respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 77 percent of the 2,768,746 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 11 percent of the space. The bulk, or 60 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Queens next at 22 percent of the space.

Direct link to Acris document. link