Zucker Organization signs $55M refi with John Hancock for 195-unit rental in Grand Central

UPDATED, 4 a.m., December 13, 2024: The Zucker Organization through the entity 34th St. South LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender John Hancock Life Insurance valued at $55 million for the 195-unit residential elevator building (D6) at 115 East 34th Street in Grand Central, Manhattan.
The deal closed on November 26, 2024 and was recorded on December 9, 2024. The prior lender was Bayerische Landesbank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $56 million.The property has 164,073 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $335 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 Zucker Organization was Lauria Zucker Lederman. The signatory for John Hancock Life Insurance was Thomas J. Treacy. John Hancock is a division of the Toronto-based insurance company Manulife.
Broker Scott Singer of Avison Young arranged the new financing.

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Laurie Zucker, head officer and Albert Berkowitz, officer. The business entities are Manhattan Skyline Mgmt and 34th Street South, Llc.

The property

The residential elevator building with 195 residential units in Grand Central has 164,073 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 133 feet and is 98 feet deep with a total lot size of 13,133 square feet. The zoning is C1-9 which allows for up to 2 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 $50.9 million. The most recent loan totaled $56 million and was provided by PCCP on November 24, 2021. The property has 4 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 three housing violations and $3,000 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on July 20, 2017. There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the 15 commercial properties representing 260,781 square feet of the 485,788 square feet. The largest owner is Zucker Organization, followed by Samson Management and then Scharfman Organization.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 56 percent of the 485,788 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 22 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Zucker Organization owned at least 26 commercial properties with 2,191 residential units in New York City with 2,135,331 square feet and a city-determined market value of $598.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $170.2 million in debt, with top three lenders as State Farm Realty Mortgage, PCCP, and JPMorgan Chase respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 95 percent of the 2,135,331 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 4 percent of the space. The bulk, or 90 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 10 percent of the space.
The post was updated with broker information.

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