Vanbarton Group has secured a $280 million loan to refinance its property at 980 Sixth Avenue, a building that recently underwent a significant conversion from office to residential use. The financing was provided by Invesco, according to sources familiar with the transaction.
The 25-story building, which now features 455 units, was originally purchased by Vanbarton for $316 million in 2018. At the time of acquisition, the tower contained 320 apartments above three floors of office space leased to WeWork.
Following WeWork’s bankruptcy in 2023 and the closure of its location at 980 Sixth Avenue among approximately 70 other centers, Vanbarton converted those former office floors into an additional 77 market-rate apartments. With this conversion complete, Vanbarton sought permanent five-year financing, replacing its previous $273 million loan from Blackstone’s mortgage trust.
A Newmark team led by Jordan Roeschlaub and Christopher Kramer arranged the new debt. Representatives for both Vanbarton Group and Invesco were not immediately available for comment.
Vanbarton remains one of New York City’s most active firms in converting office buildings into residential properties. Its pipeline currently includes more than 2,000 units across various projects. Last month, Vanbarton obtained a $300 million loan from Brookfield for its acquisition and planned conversion of the former Emigrants Savings Bank building at 6 East 43rd Street into 441 rental apartments after purchasing it earlier this year for $135 million.
In addition to these efforts, company principals Richard Coles and Gary Tischler recently acquired the Archdiocese of New York’s property at 1011 First Avenue with plans to develop it into a residential building containing about 420 apartments. Last year, they also bought the property at 77 Water Street in the Financial District for $95 million; that site is set for transformation into a residential complex with 647 units.
Earlier this month, Vanbarton refinanced Pearl House—a former FiDi office building from the 1970s that was converted into a residential property with 588 apartments—by securing $280 million in debt from AllianceBernstein and Brookfield.
