Manhattan Office Building Lands $100M Refi

52 Broadway. Image courtesy of PGIM Real Estate

Jack Resnick & Sons and its joint venture partner, The Ruben Cos., have closed on a $100 million loan to refinance 52 Broadway, a 19-story, 426,000-square-foot office building in lower Manhattan that is net leased on a long-term basis to the United Federation of Teachers.

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PGIM Real Estate was the lead underwriter on the new 15-year loan that replaced a maturing CMBS loan. The building owners were represented by their longtime mortgage broker, The Singer & Bassuk Organization. Andrew Singer, chairman & CEO of the firm, noted it has arranged three financings for the property. He stated a loan in early 2002 was one of the first closings in Manhattan’s Financial District after the attack on 9/11 and the subsequent loan in 2010 was one of the first new CMBS loans coming out of the Great Recession.

Jonathan Resnick, president of Jack Resnick & Sons, said in a prepared statement refinancing the property during the COVID-19 crisis is a testament to the quality of the asset, the strength of the anchor tenant and dedication of PGIM Real Estate and Singer & Bassuk.

Tom Goodsite, PGIM Real Estate’s managing director who led the transaction for the firm, said in prepared remarks they were able to lock in a rate in mid-April, about a month after receiving the initial request, and had the property inspected and toured after the rate-lock. He also cited the strength of the asset, as well as the borrower, as playing an important role in getting the deal done in the midst of New York City’s lockdown due to the pandemic.

Lower Manhattan location         

Situated on the corner of Broadway and Exchange Place, the property and an adjacent building at 50 Broadway serve as the headquarters for the UFT. When the UFT signed a lease for 52 Broadway in April 2002, it was one of the first major office leasing transactions in lower Manhattan after 9/11. The building has a 1,000-person auditorium and 35 parking spaces in a below-ground garage and comprises the entire blockfront of Exchange Place between Broadway and New Street. The building is located less than two blocks from the New York Stock Exchange and is within walking distance of Fulton Center and the World Trade Center Transportation Hub.

In addition to 52 Broadway, Resnick owns four other properties in lower Manhattan—255 Greenwich St.; One Seaport Plaza, which is also known as 199 Water St.; 161 William St. and 200 Chambers St. The firm, founded in 1928, has a Manhattan portfolio of commercial and retail space totaling about 6 million square feet. In January, Cantor Fitzgerald LP signed a 16-year lease renewal for 151,890 square feet at Resnick’s 37-story office tower at 110 E. 59^th St. in Midtown Manhattan’s Plaza District.