SBO arranges $50 million in commercial liberty bond financing

Richard Bassuk, president of The Singer & Bassuk Organization (SBO), a mortgage brokerage and real estate advisory firm serving a group of New York City's developers and investors, has completed the closing of $50 million in commercial liberty bonds issued by the New York City Industrial Development Agency (IDA) to fund the construction of the W New York Downtown Hotel & Residences at 123 Washington St., a 400,000 s/f mixed-use project being developed by The Moinian Group adjacent to the World Trade Center site. The 55-story, mixed-use project will contain a 217-room, full-service luxury W Hotel at its base, and 223 luxury condominium units on the upper floors. SBO previously arranged $305 million of construction and mezzanine loan financing with Credit Suisse, PB Capital Corporation and the Union Labor Life Insurance Company (ULLICO) to finance construction of the project for an affiliate of The Moinian Group. The $50 million of Commercial Liberty Bonds replaced a portion of the $305 million loan, allowing the developer to benefit from a lower financing cost both during the construction period, as well as when the hotel achieves a stabilized operating level. Bassuk said "The structuring of the Commercial Liberty Bond financing was extremely complex and required coordinating the interests of multiple lenders. The cooperation and professionalism of IDA, Credit Suisse, PB Capital and ULLICO were instrumental in the incorporation of the bond financing into the existing loan structure." Joseph Moinian, CEO of The Moinian Group, said "Once again, Bassuk and his superb team added substantial value to our development efforts."