Extell Buys $50M Loan on Midtown Development Site From Wells Fargo

Eastdil Secured’s Gary Phillips brokered the deal for Wells Fargo along with Will Silverman, sources said. 

The APF Properties-owned development site — which currently contains a pair of old office buildings — covers about 110,000 square feet, the broker said. 

Spokespeople for Extell and Wells Fargo did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Eastdil declined to comment.

Extell purchased the loan through an entity tied to the law firm Sills Cummis & Gross, records show. Wells Fargo had previously started foreclosure actions in January against APF at the property, and those actions remain ongoing, PincusCo reported.

As the new lender, Extell will likely replace Wells Fargo in the court proceedings, according to PincusCo.

Before APF faced foreclosure on the property, it was trying to offload it in 2023 for more than $80 million as a potential redevelopment in the stretch of 57th Street known as Billionaires’ Row — where Barnett had a hand in other developments, The Real Deal reported.

Barnett has been busy recently in the development world after selling his former Harlem Headquarters site at 180 East 125th Street for about $70 million, as Commercial Observer previously reported.

The buyer of that site is unclear, but the property was intended to become a 543-unit residential building with a 6,194-square-foot Brooklyn Fare grocery market on the ground floor, CO reported.

Extell and furniture retailer Ikea also filed plans last month for a new 80,000-square-foot, 29-story office and retail building on a vacant block of Fifth Avenue between West 46th and West 47th streets.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.