S3 Capital lends $52.5M for 28-unit Upper East Side condo

S3 Capital has lent $52.5 million to Grand Cru Real Estate and Visabve Corp. for a 28-unit condominium tower on Manhattan's Upper East Side. The construction loan closed in tandem with the sponsors' purchase of the site at 1527 York Ave. this month, Connect CRE reported Oct. 19.

The 20-story building will hold one- to five-bedroom residences and amenities including a gym, recreation lounge, children's playroom and full-time doorman. Oak CM is construction manager and general contractor. The address is within walking distance of the Q and 6 subway lines and the East River waterfront.

Across 28 units, $52.5 million works out to $1.875 million of debt per unit. Repayment on a condo construction loan runs through individual closings rather than a stabilized rent roll, so pricing and absorption determine repayment.

S3 has financed this sponsorship before, on the pair's boutique condo project at 439 East 77th St. "Upper East Side condo buyers are a specific audience, and a 28-unit building with layouts up to five bedrooms is aimed squarely at them," said Shawn Safdie, S3's head of origination, in a statement.

The credit differs from S3's September Brooklyn deal, a $45 million construction loan on church-owned land held under a ground lease, with the land left outside the loan, as this publication reported. At 1527 York Ave. the sponsors bought the site the building will rise on.