Broad Street Development launches Paradigm Advisory Group
Manhattan, NY Broad Street Development LLC (BSD) launched a new consulting arm to their company, Paradigm Advisory Group, founded by BSD principals Raymond Chalme and Daniel Blanco. Paradigm protects and enhances the value of distressed real estate assets on behalf of lenders, borrowers and special servicers. Paradigm’s team, with decades of construction, leasing, restructuring, conversion, property management and marketing experience, will stabilize and preserve the value of New York City assets caught up in the challenging interest rate environment coupled with increased capital costs and declining operating fundamentals.
Paradigm provides value-added asset management, construction, property management and leasing in both the office and residential sectors.
“This year alone we expect to see $30 billion of loans maturing on office property in New York. Lenders in particular are realizing they quickly need a plan, especially in an era when values may be in doubt, rates are rising, and capital structures have grown more complex and involve multiple parties,” said Chalme. “Our role will be to guide our clients through the rapidly evolving market, advising on all aspects from financial restructuring to property operations to development execution.”
Paradigm’s clients will benefit from the ”hands-on” expertise BSD has developed over the past 30 years, acting as owners, managers and developers, and the proven success they achieved working with many of the industry’s most prominent lenders and investment funds, including PBB, Cigna, MetLife, Barings, Prudential, Blackstone, Crow Holdings, RXR, Invesco and PCCP. BSD is recognized for working through challenging markets and have excelled in turning around struggling assets.
“In this market, it is more important than ever for owners to lean on those with experience. Our expertise with New York office and residential properties has been honed over 30 years and four real estate capital market cycles as owners and developers,” said Blanco. “We may not have seen it all – and nobody has seen anything quite like the current set of challenges – but we have seen a lot. The maturity we bring to every situation will distinguish Paradigm from others active in this space.”
Chalme and Blanco launched Paradigm after successfully undertaking one-off asset management and advisory assignments for lenders and recognizing the demand for these services on challenged assets. Most recently, BSD was tasked with stabilizing and completing a stalled mixed-use multi-family/retail development at 625 and 658 Driggs Ave. in Brooklyn. Terra Capital Partners, previously a mezzanine lender on the project, needed to take control of the sites from the sponsor which required rapid execution of construction, leasing, and disposition. BSD executed a plan and completed construction and retail lease up, enabling a sale to take place before the end of last year and subsequent capital markets unrest. Due to the successful campaign and disposition, first mortgage lender M&T Bank was made whole, and Terra achieved significant upside out of a previously delayed project.
“We tailor our approach to each asset, as each asset poses its own unique set of challenges. We develop strategies at the capital markets and financing level down to the day to day on-site operations. The goal is to maximize value,” said David Israni, senior managing director of asset management for BSD. “We understand better than others how to stabilize assets in a challenging marketplace.”
This year marks BSD’s 20th year in business, with 30 years of proven experience in repositioning office assets and completing construction projects in multifamily and office in NYC. The company has thrived through up and down markets. BSD’s assets, over the years, include office properties such as 80 Broad St., 55 and 61 Broadway, and 370 Lexington Ave., and residential assets including 40 Bleecker St., 298 Mulberry St., and 215 Sullivan St., and more – representing a portfolio that spans a wide range of asset types, challenges, disciplines and accomplishment.