Scale Lending Provides $56M in Construction Financing for LIC Multifamily Property

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JMH Development and Mettle Property Group have scored $56 million in financing to develop a 143-unit multifamily building in Long Island City, Queens, Commercial Observer has learned.

Scale Lending—the financing arm of Slate Property Group—provided the three-year debt in a deal arranged by Newmark Knight Frank’s Jordan Roeschlaub, Dustin Stolly, Daniel Fromm and Josh Egert

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Jason Halpern’s JMH Development teamed up with Gerard Longo’s Mettle Property Group in 2016 to acquire the leasehold and develop the site at 36-20 Steinway Street, which previously housed five commercial buildings owned by supermarket chain Western Beef.

While the developers initially had plans to build a five-story luxury hotel, they changed direction due to the number of hotels being built in Manhattan and Long Island City at the time, Halpern told Real Estate Weekly in a November 2017 interview.

The six-story multifamily property will include 18,000 square feet of retail space—including 140 feet of frontage along Northern Boulevard—and 168 parking spaces.

“JMH and Mettle are a formidable partnership with a long track record of success together,” Stolly said. “The property will be one of Long Island City’s newest high-end developments within an area that is underserved by new product. Downtown LIC can be raucous and crowded but 36-20 Steinway will offer residents something unique and more neighborhood-like without sacrificing access to the subway or local amenities.”

JMH and Mettle also partnered on 70 Henry Street in Brooklyn— a boutique condo building with five luxury residences.

The deal marks Scale Lending’s second financing since the platform’s launch in October 2018. In March, it provided a $35 million construction loan for Happy Living Development’s 834 Pacific Street in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.

“Our ability to work with the borrower on a complex deal structure and think outside the box is what set us apart and enabled us to finance the transaction,” Scale co-founder Martin Nussbaum said. “The sponsors’ experience gave us confidence that they would deliver a high-quality asset.  Additionally, we have deep and extensive experience in the Long Island City/Astoria submarket, so this enabled us to accurately underwrite the loan in a timely manner.” 

Officials at JMH and Mettle Property Group did not immediately return requests for comment.