Slate JV Secures Unique $210M Refi for NYC Portfolio

Slate Property Group and Fundamental Advisors have closed on a $210 million refinancing backing their Transitional and Affordable Housing Portfolio, a collection of New York City assets.

The financing, which was designated as a social bond, is a first-of-its-kind method of providing liquidity to “social impact financial institutions” delivering affordable housing to low-income communities and underserved populations, Slate said in a statement. JPMorgan Chase originated the refinancing package, which was securitized by Freddie Mac as part of its Multifamily Q series. The series provides liquidity to small financial institutions, sponsors and originators of affordable taxable collateral. Proceeds will pay down existing floating-rate debt and to fund reserves, holdbacks and cover closing costs.

Novel components

“Housers in New York are very familiar with how transitional housing works, but it’s not something many lenders or big institutions know as well,” David Schwartz, founding principal of Slate Property Group, told Multi-Housing News.  “The universe of non-profit managers, the mandates under which they operate, how they contract with government – many of these project components are novel to others. We spent a lot of time working with the Department of Homeless Services to explain different facets of each property, answering questions from our financial partners, introducing operators and getting everyone more familiar with the sector.”

The dozen transitional and affordable housing properties are located across Manhattan, the Bronx, Brookly and Queens and total 1,115 units across approximately 304,000 square feet of multifamily real estate.

Each property is leased to a unique not-for-profit operator and each is back by a contract with the New York City Department of Homeless Services. Properties that comprise the portfolio service varying demographics. These include families and children, individuals, LGBTQ+ youth and victims of domestic violence.