RFR, Kushner Companies Extend $480M Loan for Dumbo Heights Property

RFR and the Kushner Companies just scored a sizable loan extension in Dumbo Heights. 

The joint venture’s four-building, 750,000-square-foot mixed-use campus received a four-year extension on the $480 million loan secured by the property. The four-building campus has been an incubator for office and retail tenants, including several tech startups, since the joint venture acquired the portfolio in 2013.

Iron Hound Management negotiated the transaction.

The Real Deal first reported news of the loan extension. 

Citi Real Estate Finance provided the initial debt in 2018, which replaced a $425 million loan the bank originated in 2017, TRD reported. Last year, CO reported Kushner and RFR sought $435 million in debt to refinance their interest through a new five-year, interest-only, fixed- or floating-rate loan.  

Additionally, RFR announced that WeWork, the embattled coworking company, signed a lease modification at 77 Sands, ensuring the firm will remain renting 56,000 square feet for the near future. 

Comprising 55 Prospect Street, 81 Prospect Street, 117 Adams Street and 77 Sands Street, Dumbo Heights spans as much as 1.2 million square feet of office, retail and tech space when a neighboring fifth building is included. The campus is near Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, Vinegar Hill and the popular tourist destination of Dumbo, which has been reimagined over the last 20 years.    

Tenants on site at Dumbo Heights include Etsy, Brooklyn Laboratory Charter Schools, Abhaya Yoga, Vivvi, Ballet Slipper Spa, F45 Fitness and Bluestone Lane. 

Representatives at the Kushner Companies and RFR did not respond to requests for comment. 

(Disclosure: Joseph Meyer, chairman of Commercial Observer owner Observer Media, is married to Nicole Kushner Meyer, president of Kushner Companies.)

Brian Pascus can be reached at bpascus@commercialobserver.com