Overview
- Northwind originated a first‑mortgage construction loan to recapitalize 675 Third Avenue and fund its conversion from office to up to 450 rental apartments, with preliminary construction already underway.
- The lender’s public announcement reported a $231 million loan from its NDF III fund while Commercial Observer contemporaneously reported a $275 million figure, creating a notable discrepancy in reported loan size.
- Loan proceeds will retire the building’s existing acquisition debt and pay for the build‑out; the joint venture sponsor is MetroLoft Management with David Werner Real Estate Investments.
- Northwind said it made the loan from NDF III, which recently closed with roughly $1 billion in capital, and company officials expressed confidence in the sponsors despite a separate early‑July structural collapse at a different MetroLoft/DWREI conversion site.
- The project team includes Collaborative Construction Management as construction manager and Gensler as architect of record, and the conversion’s 25 percent 467‑m affordability requirement links the deal to Midtown housing supply and city housing policy goals.