Jason Kollander and Adam Piekarski
Co-heads of real estate credit at MSD Partners
With more than $4 billion in debt originations in the past 12 months, MSD might just stand for “make some deals.”
MSD Partners, the lending arm of the company founded by Dell Technologies’ Michael Dell, provided the largest loan of its kind when MSD and Apollo lent $535.8 million for the acquisition and redevelopment of the 22-story office building at 25 Water Street in Manhattan’s Financial District.
The senior securitized loan is allowing GFP Real Estate, Metro Loft Management and Rockwood Capital to transform the 1.1 million-
square-foot office building into 1,300 residential units. And, in no small feat, the half-
billion-dollar loan closed in December amid a slowdown in the debt markets.
“The conversion of 25 Water Street will create a unique residential property in the fast-growing Financial District, and we are excited to support this world-class sponsorship team in realizing this project,” Adam Piekarski said at the time.
While office-to-residential conversions have become a hot topic in New York and other major cities suffering from high office vacancies, MSD was active in the multifamily and hotel scenes as well. MSD joined CanAm Enterprises in lending $62.5 million for the acquisition of a Miami residential tower at 1420 South Miami Avenue, $125 million for another Florida multifamily project dubbed The Colony in Bonita Springs, and provided a $94 million floating-rate, interest-only loan for the Marriott and Residence Inn at JFK Airport.
MSD also provided a $285 million senior secured loan for CGI Merchant Group’s acquisition of the Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C.; gave a $125 million senior securitized loan to cover the construction costs of Stream’s 335,000-square-foot, mixed-use development in Dallas; and led a $1 billion refinancing of Boston’s One Lincoln Center office tower.
That billion-dollar deal will allow landlords Fortis Property Group and David Werner to repay past debt and upgrade the property with amenities, and came just a month before BDT, a merchant bank run by a former Goldman Sachs executive, merged with MSD to form an investment firm with a combined $50 billion in capital.
“As we were looking to expand MSD’s ability to provide superior solutions to our investment partners, we saw a perfect match in BDT’s capabilities and global investor base,” Gregg Lemkau, MSD’s CEO, said at the time. —C.Y.
