NEW YORK CITY-While the financing market for new construction remains tight for residential development throughout the country, lending for luxury condominiums on Manhattan’s Upper East Side is an exception to the rule. Skyline Developers, a development and management firm led by the Wilf family, has closed on a $112 million construction loan from Wells Fargo for its 19-story, 45-unit condo project at 200 E. 79th St., GlobeSt.com has learned.
Jonathan Wilf, project manager for Skyline, tells GlobeSt.com that the company was able to secure the loan thanks to the family’s long-term relationship with the bank despite the tough housing market.
“They see us as strong credit people and they trust that when we build something, we’re going to build it,” he says. “They are comfortable with us and we are comfortable with them. We’ve done deals with them in the past, so we know the process.”
The project’s location also played a major role in the deal, Wilf explained. Situated on East 79th Street and Third Avenue, the residential building will rise just steps away from the 6 train and Central Park East. In addition to residential units, the property will also include 6,200 square feet ground-floor retail at the base of the building.
While Wilf says lending has “definitely become more difficult” to obtain, the company’s strong track record with Wells Fargo in the past helped seal the deal. “If this wasn’t a great location, I imagine this would have been more difficult to work something out,” he says. “The product will be strong and in high demand.”
With sales expected to launch this fall, the family has retained Stribling Marketing Associates to handle sales and marketing for the site. Though pricing was not disclosed due to the early nature of the development, Wilf said the building’s pricing would be competitive with other properties in the neighborhood – and potential residents are already inquiring.
“We really don’t see much competition,” he says. “We are the first ground-up new construction project on the Upper East Side right now. We really feel we are tapping the market that really hasn’t been adequately supplied in a long-time, especially for the product that we’re going to have and the location we have. We are really excited about it.”
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
