Barnett secures $380M mezz financing for Central Park Tower

Gary Barnett landed $380 million in bridge financing for his $4 billion Central Park Tower supertall condo tower.

Barnett’s Extell Development raised the new capital in the form of mezzanine debt secured by “Class C” shares in the property, according to a filing on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

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Sail Harbor Capital and the hedge fund Baupost Group provided the financing, according to a source familiar with the loan. The loan carries an interest rate of 14 percent and matures at the end of this year with options to extend for another 18 months, according to the TASE filings.

A Cushman & Wakefield team of Adam Spies, Doug Harmon and Adam Doneger arranged the debt.

Barnett and the Cushman team could not be immediately reached for comment.

With a projected sellout of $4 billion, Central Park Tower, at 217 West 57th Street, is the most expensive condominium project ever developed in New York City. Barnett secured $1.1 billion in financing for the project in early 2018, including a $900 million construction loan led by JPMorgan Chase.

Extell is developing the 1,550-foot-tall tower — the tallest residential tower in the world — with SMI USA, the U.S. subsidiary of Shanghai Municipal Investment. The project, where more than 20 units will ask $60 million or more, topped out in September 2019.

In October 2020, the developer tapped Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group to help market units.

Since Barnett first landed financing for the project, however, the market for high-end condos has slowed due to a glut of new supply, particularly along Billionaires’ Row. The pandemic has also made it more difficult for developers and owners to sell high-priced units.

At the same time as the refinancing, the senior loan was modified to remove certain sales requirements, according to the TASE filing. Previous filings indicated that the developer was required to have $500 million worth of units in contract by the end of last year.