Co-op City Gets $621M Refi

NEW YORK CITY-In the largest loan ever insured under the Federal Housing Administration’s 223(f) program, Wells Fargo is refinancing the existing debt on Co-op City, the 35-building cooperative complex that’s home to more than 55,000 residents of the Bronx. The $621.5-million refi will keep Co-op City, which opened in 1968 under New York State’s Mitchell-Lama program, as affordable housing for the next 35 years.

“If it were an actual incorporated city, Co-op City would be the 12th largest in our state—and so it is hard to exaggerate the critical role it has played for over 40 years in keeping housing in New York State and New York City affordable,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo says in a statement. Since it’s backed by the FHA’s General Insurance and Special Risk Insurance Fund, the loan can be financed through the sale of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities.