Naftali Group Lands $236M From JPMorgan, Starwood For Upper East Side Tower
What is expected to be the tallest building in Manhattan north of 72nd Street, a luxury condo tower from Naftali Group, landed a major financing package.
Naftali Group, one of the city's most prolific condo developers, secured $236M in construction financing from JPMorgan Chase and Starwood for its 62-unit tower at 255 East 77th St., it announced Wednesday.
Naftali has already begun construction on the site, which it acquired in 2021 for $72.6M. The tower is expected to reach roughly 500 feet and 36 stories, according to a Naftali Group spokesperson, and pre-sales are slated to launch next year. The project will also include some ground-floor retail. The developer declined to provide a rendering of the design.
Naftali Group is building on a string of successes with luxury condos that soar hundreds of feet in the air but offer only a few dozen apartments. Since 2020, it has sold out all 15 units at the 210-foot The Benson at 1045 Madison Ave., all 12 units at the 13-story The Bellemont at 1165 Madison Ave., and all 86 units at its 489-foot-tall tower at 200 East 83rd St.
“Following successful sell-outs of our record-breaking Manhattan projects, we have continued to show our support and confidence in New York City with strategic investments and plans for several exciting new development projects,” Naftali Group CEO Miki Naftali said in a statement. “The closing of this most recent financing package represents not only Naftali Group’s esteemed reputation — especially in an extremely challenging market — but also our firm’s unwavering commitment to long-term investments in New York City.”
Naftali has expanded its scope from a Manhattan specialist in recent years. It is under construction on a large project in Brooklyn at 470 Kent Ave. and is planning 3M SF across projects in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The South Florida projects represented a reversal for Naftali, who had previously shot down the idea of expanding to the Sunshine State as many of his NYC peers launched projects in Miami after the onset of the pandemic, The Wall Street Journal reported.
