Soho Properties signs $7.5M refi with Blueberry Funding for vacant land in Financial District

UPDATED 7:10 a.m., December 7, 2023: Soho Properties through the entity Park Place Development Partners LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Blueberry Funding through the entity Blueberry Funding LLC valued at $7.5 million for the specialty building (P5) at 51 Park Place in the Financial District, Manhattan. The new loan increased the debt of the loan by $2 million from $5.5 million.
The site is a vacant parcel adjacent to a condo project, 45 Park Place, that has faced financial difficulties, as The Real Deal reported in 2021.

The land loan refinancing closed on June 29, 2022 and was recorded on July 20, 2022. The prior lender was Realty Capital Finance which held debt that had an original loan amount of $5.5 million.
The owner bought the property on July 30, 2014, for $10.7 million. The signatory for Soho Properties was Sharif M. El-Gamal. The signatory for Blueberry Funding was Yisroel Florans. Sharif El-Gamal CEO of Soho Properties.

The property

The 45-51 Park Place parcel has frontage of 45 feet and is 90 feet deep. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C6-4 which allows for up to 10 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2.3 million.The most recent loan totaled $5.5 million and was provided by Realty Capital Finance on August 12, 2021.

Development

On these lots, there are two active new building construction projects and major alteration projects with initial costs more than $5 million, totaling 139,304 square feet. The largest is a new building project for a 50-unit, 134,304-square-foot R-2 building developed by Sharif El-Gamal with plans filed May 5, 2014 and permitted November 3, 2016. The second largest is a new building project for a 5,000-square-foot B building developed by Sharif El-Gamal with plans filed October 13, 2017 and it has not been permitted yet.

The neighborhood

In Financial District, the majority, or 75 percent of the 81.3 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 15 percent of the space. In sales, Financial District has the 7th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.6 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Financial District is the 5th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 7.8 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 10 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the three commercial properties representing 759,152 square feet of the 922,492 square feet. The identified owner is Clipper Equity. There are two active new building construction projects totaling 139,304 square feet. The largest is a 50-unit, 134,304-square-foot R-2 building developed by Sharif El-Gamal with plans filed May 5, 2014 and permitted December 3, 2015. The second largest is a N/A-unit, 5,000-square-foot B building developed by Sharif El-Gamal with plans filed October 13, 2017 and it has not been permitted yet.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Soho Properties owned at least two commercial properties in New York City with 174,543 square feet and a city-determined market value of $28.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $172.5 million in debt, borrowed from One William Street Capital Management and Realty Capital Finance. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 91 percent of the 174,543 square feet of built space are hotel properties, with P5 properties next occupying 9 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.
Correction: an earlier version of this post reported the condo tower 45 Park Place secured this loan, but it does not. The condo is an adjacent parcel.

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