NEW YORK CITY-Macklowe Properties has closed on $120 million of equity and debt to finance the acquisition of a 72,000-square-foot apartment building on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The developer plans to convert the apartment house at 150 E. 72nd St., currently a 34-unit rental property, into condominiums.
The deal, first reported by the New York Post this past April as being in the works, marks the latest chapter in the rebound of developer Harry Macklowe. Having been forced to sell several of his holdings amid the downturn following his widely publicized, $7.2-billion acquisition of former Equity Office Properties assets from the Blackstone Group in early 2007, Macklowe has been in the news again this year as he ramps back up.
In addition to the 150 E. 72nd deal, for which Real Capital Analytics data list Strategic Resources Corp. as the seller and Jones Lang LaSalle as the broker, Macklowe Properties is also in contract on the $253-million acquisition of 737 Park Ave., also brokered by JLL’s New York capital markets team. Additionally, Macklowe and the CIM Group have filed plans and hired an architect to redevelop the former Drake Hotel site at 440 Park Ave.
“Macklowe is back,” Carlton Group chairman and CEO Howard Michaels tells GlobeSt.com. Michaels’ firm arranged the $90-million first mortgage from an undisclosed balance sheet lender along with $30 million in equity from a high net worth investor, which RCA lists as the Brazil-based Safra Group. He says the 150 E. 72nd and 737 Park deals show the developer “returning to his roots.” Macklowe has similar condo-conversion plans for 737 Park, like 150 E. 72nd a prewar rental building.
The 150 E. 72nd acquisition in particular demonstrates Macklowe tapping into demand, says Michaels. Currently the Upper East Side condo market offers fewer than 10 prewar apartments of greater than 3,000 square feet, according to a release from Carlton. Michaels adds that his firm has a number of other deals with Macklowe in the works.
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