RFR Secures $160M Recap for 475 Fifth Avenue

Aby Rosen’s RFR is on a tear in 2025, and just closed a recapitalization of one of its prime office properties that was once threatened by foreclosure.  

The firm has secured a three-year, $160 million loan, plus an equity infusion, for 475 Fifth Avenue, its 23-story office building in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, Commercial Observer can first report. 

The financing from J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup (C) replaces and retires the existing $180 million mortgage the banks had previously placed on the property. The new equity partners couldn’t be named.

“The negotiation was successful in the end, and it resulted in a new $160 million mortgage from the existing lending group, which included an equity infusion as part of the deal,” said Gabriel Rosen, a principal at the firm. 

The new loan marks the resolution of a long struggle over the future of 475 Fifth Avenue. CO reported in August that J.P. Morgan Chase and Citibank were looking to foreclose on RFR’s initial mortgage.

475 Fifth Avenue, between East 40th and East 41st streets, was built in 1925 and renovated in 1965. RFR purchased the building in 2022 for $291 million, financing the deal with $260 million in loans. Part of that debt — a $180 million loan split into two notes — matured in June  2024, causing the initial threat of foreclosure. 

A source close to the negotiations told CO that loan modification negotiations take time, with borrowers and lenders often having to bear negative headlines as a procedural step to agreeing on a resolution, with 475 Fifth Avenue being no exception. 

“I do think you’ll see a number of borrowers who have lenders that filed for foreclosure that will eventually result in positive outcomes or restructurings within the capital stack,” Gabriel Rosen said. 

The good news for 475 Fifth Avenue seals a 2025 hat trick of office financing activity for RFR. 

In just the last month, RFR closed a $1.2 billion commercial mortgage-backed securities loan to refinance the Seagram Building at 375 Park Avenue, an 849,000-square-foot office complex, and secured a three-year, $180 million loan modification and extension for 17 State Street, a 42-story office building in Manhattan’s Financial District  

Gaby Rosen told CO that the wider commercial real estate market has seen a positive start to the year in 2025 from both a tenant-demand perspective, a leasing perspective, and a capital markets perspective, and that RFR has benefited from the changing economic landscape.  

“We’ve closed a few deals in 2025 and we’re benefiting from the tailwinds in the market,” said Rosen. “We think after many years of uncertainty, the flight to quality is finally materializing in the market, and liquidity is back in the capital markets, which is exhibited by our recent deals, and the other deals in the market. 

“It’s a good sign lenders are working with borrowers on assets where they see long-term value,” he added. 

It’s not all been sunshine for RFR, of course, with the firm’s highly publicized eviction from the Chrysler Building last month. 

But 475 Fifth Avenue is now firmly back on track. Rosen told CO the building stands at over 90 percent leased, and that RFR plans to announce “new deals in the immediate future.” The building’s largest tenant, Penske Media, has made a long-term commitment to the property.

“There is some vacancy and leases we still need to do, but this refinancing puts us in a great position to execute on our business plan of fully leasing the property,” he said. 

Rosen added that the flight-to-quality phenomenon has largely been seen around office buildings on Park Avenue, but is starting to bleed over into Madison Avenue and has been mainly concentrated in the Grand Central Terminal submarket, where 475 Fifth Avenue sits facing Bryant Park. 

“It’s not just One Vanderbilts and the Seagram Buildings that are leasing well. It’s now finally reaching the well-located but normal Class A office market,” he said. “There’s now a more positive sentiment around the future of high-quality office, and the proof of this in the new capital, both on the debt and equity, being invested into the space.” 

Brian Pascus can be reached at bpascus@commercialobserver.com