(To read more on the multifamily market, click here.)

NEW YORK CITY-209-211 Hester Street Partners, a Soho-based development group, has obtained non-recourse $17-million, 24-month, floating-rate mortgage for the acquisition and conversion of an industrial building at 209-211 Hester St. The total project costs are anticipated to be $20 million.

Construction is expected to begin on the firm's fifth condo conversion project in the late fall and delivery is expected in late 2006. Developers plan to convert the building into 16 condominiums, including three triplex townhouses and two duplex penthouses. The units are expected to sell for between $1,100 and $1,300 per sf with the penthouses approaching $5 million a piece.Sonnenblick-Goldman Co. arranged the financing. The property is believed to have been the stables for the former police headquarters, which was converted in 1988 into condominiums and is now called the Police Building. The mortgage was provided by a Wall Street investment bank.

"Many lenders traditionally don't grant construction loans for condominium conversions; however, after recognizing the great success of these types of projects, they are now shifting into this higher margin business," says Andrew Oliver, managing director and principal of Sonnenblick-Goldman.