In February, GlobeSt. reported that GFP Real Estate had defaulted on a $103M loan on 515 Madison Avenue, known as the DuMont Building a landmark Art Deco-style building at the corner of Madison Avenue and 53rd Street.
The minute the story published, Jeff Gural, Chairman and Principal of GFP, sent us a statement, which we were pleased to share with you:
"We have agreed to terms with our lender and are finalizing documentation to extend the existing loan. We are quite confident that we will be able to repay the loan during this extension," Jeff Gural, Chairman and Principal of GFP Real Estate told us.
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Built in the same year as the Empire State Building—in the depths of the Great Depression in 1931—the 42-story DuMont building was 84% occupied in December, with its largest tenant a flexible office space provider, according to a report in Crain's. Memorial Sloan Kettering, another key tenant, is vacating the building in June and relocating to new office space on the Upper East Side.
This week comes news that GFP has indeed received a three-year extension on its mortgage at 515 Madison, which the company took out in 2009 and later refinanced with Wells Fargo. GFP occupies 13K SF in the building.
We'd also be pleased to tell you what Jeff has decided to do about the Flatiron Building, but so far Jeff hasn't responded to our request for a comment on whether he'll exercise his option to purchase the building in the wake of Jacob Garlick forgetting to bring his wallet to the auction of the historic landmark.
The surprise winner the March 22 auction of Manhattan's iconic Flatiron Building generated another surprise the following Friday: Garlick, who according to his website heads DC-based Abraham Trust, failed to deliver a 10% deposit to seal the deal.
A court-ordered auction of the 22-story building at 175 Fifth Avenue was undertaken at the behest of three partners who owned 75% of the iconic building—Sorgente Group, GFP Real Estate and ABS Real Estate Partners—who wanted a divorce from the owner of the remaining 25%, Nathan Silverstein.
Garlick emerged with the winning bid of $190M after GFP bowed out at $189.5M. The terms of the deal required Abraham Trust to put down $19M by close of business on March 24 but this did not happen.
If Garlick isn't given an extension by Mannion Auctions, which refereed the sale, Gural will have the option to purchase the building.
Gural initially told The Real Deal he does not intend to exercise this option—which means there may be another auction—but more recently has been noncommittal.
GFP was widely expected to emerge as the owner of the Flatiron Building in Wednesday's partition sale, which was held in front of the New York County Courthouse, because owners are permitted to use their stakes as part of what is known as a "credit bid."
The company bowed out after its bid of $189.5M, which it said it didn't want to exceed because the 204K SF building needs a renovation expected to cost another $200M.
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