Fordham Landing Secures $70M Refi for Bronx Project

Developers plan 2.5M SF of mixed-use facilities on Harlem River waterfront site.

A partnership of Dynamic Star, Namdar Realty Group and Gorjian Acquisitions has secured a $70M loan to refinance a mixed-use development the joint venture is planning to build on an underutilized 14-acre waterfront site in the Bronx.

The site of the mixed-use project, known as Fordham Landing, on 2475 Exterior Street is about a half a mile from Yankee Stadium, adjacent to the University Heights neighborhood.

The waterfront property on the Harlem River is one of the last pieces of undeveloped waterfront land in NYC.

Plans for the Fordham Landing project, which is expected to encompass more than 2.5M square feet of mixed-use space, include a conference center, restaurants, entertainment and playing fields.

Signature Bank and Columbia Pacific Advisors are providing the 12-month, floating rate debt package, which was arranged by Meridian Capital Group.

In November, Connecticut-based Dynamic Star filed plans a 17-story building with a shared base for three additional towers. The first phase of the project would involve the construction of a 582K SF mixed-use building.

Dynamic Star bought the Fordham Landing parcel for $31.5M from the Lasala family in 2019. Last year, the develop also bought the site of a concrete plant along the Major Deegan Expressway in University Heights from Galway Realty for $21M.

Dynamic Star said at the time it was planning a $3.5B development across 30 acres, including 2,380 multifamily units, 50K of retail space, an 800K SF life science center, a hotel, waterfront bars and restaurants and an e-sports center.

In May, a long-term ground lease for one of the largest available sites for development on the Brooklyn waterfront—a 16-acre parcel that has been designated as a federal Opportunity Zone—was put on the market by the family that has owned it for decades.

The 16-acre parcel on Shore Parkway on the eastern shore of the Gravesend neighborhood of NYC will be sold by JLL, which said it is seeking either a 49-year or 99-year ground lease for the property.

The property, which once was home to an oil terminal, is situated within an M3-1 manufacturing district, which also permits industrial and retail use.

Two buildings and a parking deck now sitting on the property are vacant and can be cleared for redevelopment, JLL said, estimating the waterfront property to contain 870,000 SF of buildable space.

Noting the site’s proximity to a nexus of highways in Brooklyn, including the Belt Parkway, I-95 and I-278, JLL touted the property in a release as “an ideal site for a manufacturing, distribution or last-mile logistics facility.”