C
SC Real Estate has acquired the office portion of 300 East 42nd Street from David Werner, with plans to convert most of it into 135 rental apartments. The building's narrow floor plates make it ideal for residential use without requiring additional light or air shafts. Werner had recently purchased the property from Fortress Investment Group for $52 million and may have flipped it at the same price.

    CSC intends to utilize New York's 467m program, which allows for the conversion of middle floors in office buildings while keeping current tenants in place. The company will use separate lobbies and elevator banks for office and residential uses. CSC has secured a $45 million senior loan from Northwind Group, arranged by Morris Betesh of Arrow Real Estate Advisors.

    "We identified an opportunity to originate this loan at a favorable basis," said Ran Eliasef, founder and managing partner of Northwind. "The project is zoned as-of-right, with no need to relocate tenants, and has a clean path to conversion." CSC has previously purchased several assets in New York City, renovating them for residential or commercial use.

    CSC and Werner did not comment on the deal. The 237,470-square-foot building was previously owned by Keith Rubenstein's Somerset Partners and Meadow Partners, who purchased it in 2019 for $122.5 million with a $110 million loan from Fortress.