Finance  ·  CMBS

Related Companies Lands $380M CMBS Refi for Bronx Terminal Market

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Dog days of summer? Not this year. In fact, you’d be ‘barking mad’ to think anyone’s taking off to chill in the Hamptons this August instead of closing deals. 

Case in point: Related Companies just sealed a $380 million refinance for Bronx Terminal Market, its sprawling retail property at 610 Exterior Street close to Yankee Stadium, Commercial Observer has learned. 

SEE ALSO: Prime US REIT, KBS Secure $550M Refi of Office Portfolio

The $380 million, five-year commercial-mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) loan comprises a $240 million A-note from Deutsche Bank (DB), Wells Fargo (WFC), Bank of America (BAC) and Starwood Mortgage Capital and a $140 million B-note funded by CPP Investment Board, according to a Securities & Exchange Commission filing. 

A Newmark (NMRK) team negotiated the financing, according to sources familiar with the deal. 

Bronx Terminal Market sits close to the Bronx riverfront, with easy access via the Major Deegan Expressway. The property is approximately 90 percent leased to 21 tenants today with a weighted-average lease term of 7.5 years, according to a CMBS presale report from Fitch Ratings. Roughly half of the 913,000-square-foot shopping mall’s space is currently leased to investment-grade tenants today. 

Shoppers can “expect more and pay less” there, seeing as the property is anchored by Target. The retailer occupies 188,000 square feet on a long-term lease that extends through 2023 and also has five-year, consecutive lease renewal options until the property’s ground lease matures, according to the SEC filing. That ground lease, with the City of New York, runs until 2105, according to the Fitch report. 

Its second-largest tenant is BJ’s Wholesale Club, which leases 130,000 square feet through 2029, with other tenants including Home Depot, Food Bazaar and Burlington

Lidl also signed a lease at the property recently, and is expected to open its doors in the coming months. The Germany-based supermarket chain is taking over the space that was previously occupied by a Michaels arts and crafts store. 

The 17-acre site, which once was home to a wholesale fruit and vegetable market with the same name, also includes parking for 2,602 cars. 

Proceeds from the loan will retire the property’s existing $380 million CMBS loan. In June, a Trepp alert stated that the loan’s status had changed from current to nonperforming matured balloon when it reached its scheduled maturity in May — but now, a refi is underway. 

Related owns several retail properties in New York City, including Gateway Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.,  College Point in Queens, and HUB Retail and Office Center in the South Bronx.

Related, Deutsche Bank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Starwood, CPP and Newmark did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Cathy Cunningham can be reached at ccunningham@commercialobserver.com.