ICBC's U.S. arm lends $24.4M to refinance NoMad office tower

ICBC's U.S. arm supplied a $24.4 million loan to refinance LMR Assets' office and retail tower at 148 Madison Avenue in NoMad, Commercial Observer reported. The 16-story building, built circa 1917, occupies a full Madison Avenue block face between East 31st and East 32nd streets and totals 71,871 square feet. Meridian Capital Group's Benjamin Klugmann and Ariel Taieb arranged the financing.

The loan works out to roughly $340 per square foot and equals about 78 percent of the $31.3 million LMR paid for the building in June 2024. Because Meridian says LMR has funded capital improvements since that purchase, the new debt is a smaller share of total basis than those two figures alone imply.

LMR Assets, the real estate arm of Gourmet Home Products, bought the property in an owner-occupier deal and moved its operations there from 347 Fifth Avenue. Gourmet Home Products owns houseware and lifestyle brands. The sponsor group, led by Jack Saadeh, Victor Saadeh and Jack Yadid, made the purchase as the entity's first commercial real estate deal. The tower holds 15 office spaces and a retail space occupied by Brazilian furniture brand Ornare. "ICBC recognized the quality of the real estate and the strength of the sponsorship, and we were pleased to deliver a financing structure that fits the property and the owners' long-term plans for the building," Klugmann said in a statement to Commercial Observer.