Manhattan’s 10 Biggest Real Estate Loans in September

From left: Michael Stern, Kevin Maloney and Bobby Zar with 111 West 57th Street (left) and 43 East 53rd Street (Getty, SHoP Architects, Google Maps)

All that glitters is not gold, and ultra-pricy Manhattan real estate certainly glitters.

Several residential projects in the borough, modest and otherwise, proved credit worthy last month, including 111 West 57th Street, a Billionaires’ Row tower beset by years of financial distress and scandal, where one of the original lenders began to mop up what’s left of the building’s debt (still a lot).

Large office buildings also dotted the list of big loans, with workplace landlords commanding serious debt in Flatiron and Midtown’s Plaza District.

The 10 biggest real estate loans fetched $678 million last month, less than half of August’s total and about two-thirds what was issued last September. Here are more details.

Cleanup on Billionaires’ Row | $239 million

Michael Stern’s JDS Development Group and Kevin Maloney’s Property Markets Group refinanced debt on 111 West 57th Street — dubbed Steinway Tower — with $239 million from Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance. The new loan retires $400 million in senior debt held by insurance giant AIG’s real estate investment arm, which led financing for the controversial project in the mid-2010s. The subsidiary of Apollo Global Management supplied a $325 million mezzanine loan at the time, which went into default and resulted in the project’s 2017 foreclosure, although Stern and Maloney ultimately retained ownership.

Corcoran took over sales at the building in February. There are nine active listings asking a combined $230 million. The priciest is a triplex asking $66 million, or more than $9,000 a square foot.

Banking on office | $120 million

Acris Capital provided Bobby Zar’s ZG Capital Partners with $56.6 million to buy, and $63.4 million to redevelop, the former Santander building at 43 East 53rd Street. ZG Capital paid $102.5 million in July for the 20-story Plaza District building, which was developed for the Spanish bank in 1990. Santander relocated its headquarters to a space subleased from WeWork at nearby 437 Madison Avenue.

Rialto Capital has a $55 million equity stake in the property. The renovations are estimated to cost between $60 million and $80 million; Zar’s investment firm has been in talks with architecture firm Gensler.

Midtown moola | $98 million

Meyer Equities got new senior lenders at 469 Seventh Avenue, a 267,000-square-foot office building at the corner of West 36th Street in the Garment District. Citi Real Estate Funding and UBS refinanced outstanding debt with a $98 million loan, replacing three insurers. The 16-story building was constructed in the 1920s.

Greener Meadow | $61 million

Cerebrus Capital provided Meadow Partners with $44.6 million to acquire, and $16 million to renovate, two East Village apartment buildings at 305 East 11th Street and 310 East 12th Street. About a third of the buildings’ 89 units are rent-stabilized. Meadow bought the properties for $58 million in August; the firm owns 430 apartments throughout the neighborhood.

Office party | $47 million

JPMorgan Chase took over…