Trump Organization signs $100M refi loan from Axos Bank for Fifth Avenue tower

The Trump Organization signed a $100 million refinance loan with Axos Bank for the commercial portion of the 725 Fifth Avenue tower months after the original loan was put on a bank watchlist.

In September 2021, Bloomberg reported that falling occupancy rates caused the loan to be placed on a debt watch list by the master servicer of the loan, Wells Fargo.

On February 17, 2022 that loan was refinanced for the same amount by Axos Bank. The deal was recorded on March 8, 2022.

Eric Trump was the signatory for the Trump Organization through the entity Trump Tower Commercial LLC. Thomas M. Constantine signed for Axos Bank. Eric H. Johnson signed for the previous lender.

The property, a commercial condominium unit located at 721 aka 725 Fifth Avenue, has 257,025 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $389 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 property

The 721 5th Avenue parcel has a total size of 257,025 square feet. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $246.2 million.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was not involved in any lawsuits or bankruptcies in the past years. In addition, according to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $5 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Midtown East, the majority, or 77 percent of the 65.7 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with residential elevator buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space. In sales, Midtown East has 4 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $1.1 billion in sales volume in the last two years and is the 10th highest in Manhattan. For development, Midtown East has 4 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 4th highest in Manhattan. It had 3.6 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 6 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the 70 commercial properties representing 146,850 square feet of the 3,598,368 square feet. The identified owner is LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE. There are two active new building construction projects totaling 609,934 square feet. The largest is a 144-unit, 594,271-square-foot R-2 building developed by William Unger with plans filed March 10, 2011 and permitted November 21, 2012. The second largest is a N/A-unit, 15,663-square-foot M building developed by Mary Leprohon with plans filed April 27, 2015 and permitted February 12, 2016.

The majority, or 89 percent of the 2 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 7 percent of the space.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 721 5th Avenue, Pincusco identified 12 commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those 12 items, one was in new building development. It was a new building permit application filed on May 8, 2020 for a 152,689-square-foot R-2 building with 96 residential units at 10 West 55th Street.
Of those 12 items, two were for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. They were two permit applications with a total initial cost of $636,000. The most recent of these two items was the filing on February 3, 2022 for a 262,870-square-foot B building with 11 residential units at 711 5th Avenue.
Of those 12 items, two were sales above $5 million totaling $1.4 billion. The most recent of the two was LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE which bought the 970,000-square-foot, two-unit mixed-use building (K2) on 4 East 57th Street and nine other properties for $447.3 million from Tiffany & Co. on February 2, 2021.
Of those 12 items, seven were loans above $5 million totaling $2.6 billion. The most recent of the seven was Wharton Properties which borrowed $225 million from JPMorgan Chase secured by the 113,292-square-foot, 18-unit office building (O6) on 720 5th Avenue on June 5, 2021.

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