Brookfield Lends $273M For Lower Manhattan Office-To-Resi Conversion
The Vanbarton Group’s Financial District residential conversion has a financial backer.
Brookfield Real Estate Financial Partners has agreed to a $272.5M construction loan to Vanbarton for its conversion of 160 Water St., an office building constructed in 1972, Commercial Observer reports. Vanbarton plans to convert the 24-story, 533K SF office tower to a 30-story multifamily property with 588 units, The Real Deal reported last year.
The developer acquired the property in 2014 for $165M. The final office tenants left last October, The Real Deal previously reported, making way for the building’s planned, Gensler-designed transformation. The apartment building is set to feature 34K SF of amenity space, a lobby lounge, a coffee bar and a rooftop deck, CO reported.
Gideon Gil, Adam Spies, Kempton Coady and Alex Lapidus of Cushman & Wakefield represented Vanbarton in the construction loan deal.
The conversion is one of several FiDi office buildings hoping to convert and reposition as a multifamily property, Commercial Observer reported. Silverstein Properties and Metroloft acquired a 30-story office tower at 55 Broad St. in May this year and reportedly plan to convert the property into market-rate apartments.
“The Financial District is experiencing a new wave of residential success as the demand to rent apartments in Lower Manhattan grows,” Gil said in a statement to Commercial Observer. “The property is ideally located and will be converted to residential use with a top amenities package that will cater to the growing downtown residential population.”
The deal is also one of several large construction loans to be announced in the past two weeks, even as much of the industry is away from the office in the final days of summer before Labor Day.
Rockefeller Group and Park Tower Group scored a $200M construction loan for a multifamily building in Greenpoint from Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, The Real Deal reported Thursday. Last week, Toll Brothers secured a nearly $100M construction loan from Bank OZK for an Upper West Side condos-over-retail building and Domain Cos. and Vorea Group landed $140M in construction financing for a Gowanus apartment building.
