Deutsche Bank Finances $1B Hudson Commons Buy With $507M CMBS Loan
By Cathy Cunningham December 17, 2021 5:12 pm
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With the year drawing to a close, Commercial Observer’s pages are filled with deals crossing the finish line before the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve. And some of those deals are whales rather than minnows.
Case in point, Deutsche Bank (DB) just closed a $507 million commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) loan for CommonWealth Partners’ acquisition of Hudson Commons, Commercial Observer can first report.
The $1.03 billion sale — the largest New York City investment sale by dollar volume since 2019 — closed on Friday, Dec. 17, as first reported by CO only earlier today. The sellers were Cove Property Group and Baupost Group.
CBRE (CBRE)’s James Millon, Tom Traynor and Mark Finan negotiated the five-year, fixed-rate CMBS financing, while CBRE’s Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan led the sale of the asset along with Doug Middleton and Alana Bassen.
Honoring the past while embracing the future, the 25-story office and retail building at 441 Ninth Avenue integrates a former eight-story warehouse — built in 1962 and converted to office use in 1983 — with a new 17-story high-tech overbuild.
Cove and Baupost purchased the asset five years ago from EmblemHealth for $330 million. In 2017, the partnership secured a $479 million construction loan from Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance and began a creative adaptive reuse redevelopment of the property, refinancing it in 2019 with a $724 million refinance from Blackstone Mortgage Trust.
Today, Lyft and Peloton anchor Hudson Commons, which is currently 75 percent leased. Its $1 billion sales tag reflects its significant repositioning to a hotel-like, concierge-focused office building that meets post-COVID tenant health, wellness and sustainability demands.
Located adjacent to Moynihan Train Hall and a stone’s throw from Hudson Yards, the LEED Platinum-certified property offers outdoor space on most floors and sweeping views. Amenities include a 9,000-square-foot lounge and conference center, a premium bike room, and state-of-the-art technology.
A Deutsche Bank official didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. CBRE officials declined to comment.
Cathy Cunningham can be reached at: ccunningham@commercialobserver.com.
