David Levinson and Robert Lapidus

Among the stories of distress and success in this bifurcated real estate market, there are some deals that are truly blockbuster. And L&L Holding’s recent $911 million refinance for a brand-new office tower in Manhattan’s Midtown East is one of those. 

L&L, along with partners Tokyu Land and BGO, secured the five-year loan for the 47-story building anchored by hedge fund Citadel from a consortium of Japanese banks led by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank. The building, which opened in 2022, was 90 percent leased when the deal closed, and is now just shy of 100 percent leased. But getting the financing was quite a feat because of the state of the lending markets, said Rob Lapidus, who leads the firm with David Levinson. 

“Even with the credit quality of our tenants, and the leasing, we couldn’t do [the refinance] in America,” Lapidus said. “The cost of capital in Japan is a lot less. For Japanese lenders to get the return that they need, they can underwrite differently.” 

The five-year term will allow the company to focus on stabilizing the property without worrying about the financing, said Lapidus. 

Similarly, L&L managed to recapitalize its Terminal Warehouse development — another creative and highly complex feat that will allow the company to complete the transformation of the massive former warehouse complex into an office-and-retail destination on Manhattan’s far West Side. 

“We spent about 12 months restructuring that entire capital stack, albeit to get five years of extension,” said Lapidus. “[It included] a lot of modifications and relief from the lending group, able to get investment partners to put up several hundreds of millions of new equity.”

The 1.3 million-square-foot project is slated for completion by the end of the year.

L&L is also nearing completion on several other projects, including TSX Broadway, the hotel and entertainment destination in Times Square, and Wynwood Plaza, an office property in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood and one of its only major projects outside New York. 

In a market like this one, even the best have to get creative when it comes to financing — but only the best can get it done on this scale.