Converted Brooklyn Creative Office Receives $205M Refi

10 Jay Street. Image courtesy of Newmark Knight Frank

A joint venture of  Glacier Global Partners and Triangle Assets has received a $205 million floating-rate loan for the refinancing of 10 Jay Street in Brooklyn, N.Y. Newmark Knight Frank arranged the mortgage, originated by Natixis.

Located at 10 Jay St., the property is a 10-story, 222,228-rentable-square-foot Class A office and retail development in Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood. Originally completed in 1897 and formerly used as a sugar refinery, the structure was converted for office use in 2018, according to Yardi Matrix information. The building is directly on the East River waterfront and surrounded by Brooklyn Bridge Park and features a glass facade, open floorplates and a luxury rooftop terrace.

READ ALSO: Redeveloped Brooklyn Asset Gets $15M Refi

The asset will serve as the new headquarters location for subscription fashion service Rent the Runway, which leased more than 83,000 square feet on floors 7–10, including 10,000 square feet of outdoor space on the 10th floor. The building will also house the flagship New York City location for Soho Works, the coworking concept from Soho House, which leased 50,000 square feet at the property. The new office space is only a short walk from their Dumbo House location at Empire Stores.

The NKF team was led by Dustin Stolly and Jordan Roeschlaub, vice chairmen & co-heads of Debt & Structured Finance, along with Dylan Kane, Chris Kramer and Nick Scribani. Prior to this refinancing and the building’s conversion last year, Glacier had obtained a $34 million first mortgage loan on the property, along with joint venture equity. 

Historic buildings, new money

Office rents continue to rise in Brooklyn, with newly repositioned buildings coming onto the market driving this increase in the borough’s most active submarkets, according to a second-quarter report from NKF. DUMBO was the only submarket to see its availability rate fall from the previous quarter, impelled in part by Rent the Runway’s above-mentioned lease at 10 Jay Street. Brooklyn’s biggest lease in the second quarter was a whopper: The city’s Human Resources Administration renewed its lease for the entire 342,496-square-foot building at 250 Livingston St., per NKF. 

Historic repositioned buildings in Brooklyn getting big loans has been a trend this year. In March, PCCP provided a $152 million senior loan to Quinlan Development Group and Building and Land Technology, the owners of 41 Flatbush Ave., in downtown Brooklyn. The 1896-vintage Neoclassical building has 270,000 square feet on 10 stories and underwent a $30 million renovation. And speaking of Empire Stores, that Class A retail-and-office project in DUMBO was the recipient of a $280 million, 15-year refinancing loan earlier this year. The original structure dates to the 1860s.