90 Washington Secures Permanent Financing

NEW YORK CITY-An $82.5 million credit enhancement closed for 90 Washington St., a 375,000-sf residential apartment. A Moinian Group affiliate is the developer. The credit enhancement by ARCS Commercial Mortgage Co LP was for Liberty Bonds issued by the New York City Housing Development Corp. for the property located four blocks from Ground Zero. It contains 398 luxury residential apartments. The financing provided permanent credit enhancement of $74.8 million of tax-exempt Liberty Bonds, and a $7.7 million subordinate loan.

The Singer and Bassuk Organization arranged the permanent financing which repaid Liberty Bonds issued by HDC to finance construction of the project. The permanent financing utilized auction rate tax-exempt bonds issued by HDC under its Liberty Bond Program with such bonds credit enhanced by ARCS under Fannie Mae’s permanent credit enhancement financing program, explains SBO president Richard Bassuk. “The use of auction rate low floater bonds, rather than the more traditional variable rate low floater bonds, enabled the Borrower to achieve greater proceeds at a lower interest rate.” He notes that this is only the third time auction rate bonds have been used to provide permanent financing for large multifamily projects.