Residential Real Estate Becoming an Increasingly Attractive Investment for Global Financial Firms
At a time when residential real estate is commanding “record-setting rents,” the asset class has attracted heighten interest from global financial firms. The 44-story Riverbank mixed-use rental property located at 560 West 43rd Street in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood was recently purchased by the wealth-management division of JPMorgan Chase under the entity Comref River LLC according to the press release by Crain’s New York. The 418-unit tower was sold by MassMutual insurance company’s funds manager Barings for $243.5 million, or about $582,536 per unit, and financed by a $128.331 million loan from JLL Real Estate Capital, which consolidated existing debt and included a new $28.331 million Gap Multifamily Mortgage. The seller took control of the property in 1991, “when developer Harry Macklowe was forced to surrender the four-year-old property to the company, which held its debt, amid the real estate crash of the era.” The over 2 million-square-foot building that spans the entire 11th Avenue blockfront between West 42nd and 43rd Streets reportedly includes multiple tenant amenities — a gym, indoor swimming pool, a 5,0000-square-foot lounge with pool and poker tables, and valet parking from its West 43rd Street courtyard; and retail tenants at the base of the building include 7-Eleven, QQ Nails & Salon, Grand Cru Wine & Spirits, Romeo & Juliet Colombian Coffee, Theater 555, a 160-seat off-Broadway theatre.