New York Real Estate Journal

Bar-Or and Levine of Meridian Capital Group, LLC negotiate $20.5 million financing

August 25, 2014 - Brokerage
Meridian Capital Group, LLC, a leading national commercial real estate finance and advisory firm, negotiated a $20.5 million bridge loan for the Montague Center office property located on Montague St. on behalf of Treeline Companies. The interest-only loan features a low fixed-rate and was provided by a regional balance sheet lender. This transaction was negotiated by Meridian managing directors, Tal Bar-Or and Ronnie Levine, who are both based in the company's New York City headquarters. The 9-story Montague Center office property totals 82,600 s/f and is located at 189 Montague St. The property is surrounded by a wide variety of amenities including new hotels, restaurants, vibrant retail, and is located close to multiple subway lines. "Meridian leveraged its unique and long-standing lender relationships to provide compelling terms in line with the sponsor's long-term business plan of developing Downtown Brooklyn," said Bar-Or. In addition, Meridian arranged a $13 million mortgage for the acquisition of a townhome located on East 72nd St. in New York, on behalf of Mink Development. The two-year loan features a fixed-rate and was provided by Madison Realty Capital. This transaction was arranged by Meridian associate, Aggelos Sklavenitis, who is based in the company's New York City headquarters. The six-story property, located at 39 East 72nd St., totals 13,300 s/f and was originally the home of fashion designer and heiress Gloria Vanderbilt. "Meridian was able to leverage its strong relationship with Madison Realty Capital to facilitate the acquisition of this unique asset. By working side-by-side with the Madison Realty Capital team, we were able to structure financing that allows the sponsor to execute their business plan and capitalize on the strength of the luxury housing market on the Upper East Side," said Sklavenitis. "We are continually impressed with the creativity of the team at Madison Realty Capital and their ability to understand value-add transactions of this nature," he said. Founded in 1991, Meridian is one of the nation's largest commercial real estate finance and advisory firms. Meridian is headquartered in New York with offices in New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois, Florida, Arizona and California. Working with a broad array of capital providers, Meridian arranges financing for transactions ranging from $1 million to more than $500 million for multifamily, co-op, office, retail, hotel, mixed-use, industrial, healthcare, student housing, self-storage and construction properties.