$80m Chelsea Tower financing deal closed.

Richard Bassuk, President of The Singer & Bassuk Organization (SBO) announced the closing of an $80 million permanent loan for Chelsea Tower, a 34story, 228-unit luxury apartment building located on the west side of Avenue of the Americas at 100 West 26th Street.

The building also contains approximately 16,000 s/f of retail space and a parking garage.

SBO arranged the permanent financing for S&P/DM 26 Development, LLC, a limited liability company composed of members of the Steinberg & Pokoik families and The DeMatteis Organizations.

Financing was pro vided by an affiliate of AIG. Mr. Bassuk stated, "In arranging the financing, we initially created strong competition between Fannie Mae DUS lenders and Freddie Mac seller/servicers for the right to represent the owners with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to provide permanent financing for the project.

"After we selected Fannie and Freddie representatives, Fannie, Freddie and various securitized and portfolio lenders actively competed for the right to provide the permanent financing. AIG, a portfolio lender, was selected to provide the financing which exceeded the borrower's original expectations."

Bassuk added, "Securitized and portfolio lenders have become highly competitive with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the traditional lending agencies.

"These lenders are now underwriting loans in very flexible, creative ways providing benefits sometimes not available with agency financings."

Michael Steinberg, President of Steinberg & Pokoik Management Corp., said, "Mr. Bassuk acted as our financial advisor for the project from the beginning.

"He arranged a $64.4 million construction loan for us to build the project, as well as the AIG $80 million permanent financing."

Mr. Steinberg added, "SBO provided comprehensive advice regarding project financing, as well as providing us with extremely attractive offers from various lenders as to structure, proceeds, and pricing."

Richard F. DeMatteis, President of The DeMatteis Organizations, said, "I am extremely pleased with the financing, and we have found that SBO provides owners/developers with the highest level of service available in the industry."