Carlton Raises $630M for 666 Fifth Ave. Recap

NEW YORK CITY-Charles and Jared Kushner, who purchased 666 Fifth Ave. for a record $1.8 billion in late 2006, recently bifurcated the office and retail component of the asset as GlobeSt.com reported. The original financing had been organized primarily with long-term fixed-rate financing, however there was one portion of large, short-term mezzanine debt, which Kushner had to refinance.

Howard Michaels, chairman of locally based Carlton Group Ltd., was able to arrange $630 million consisting of a $325-million first mortgage, $135-million mezzanine mortgage and $170 million in equity from a $3-billion opportunistic fund for the property. Carlton sources tell GlobeSt.com that the $3-billion opportunistic fund for the property “is a Carlyle fund.” The source couldn’t specify the exact fund.

Michaels has executed more than $40 billion in equity and debt transactions over the last few years and many of the transactions have been equity and debt recapitalizations. Michaels, working with extremely difficult market conditions, according to a Carlton release, was able to arrange the 666 Fifth Ave. retail condo equity recap, which it considers the largest equity and debt recapitalization to take place in Manhattan this year.