The Excelsior — Hotel to Multifamily Conversion

A premier conversion project facing a 40-day maturity wall.

The sponsor — one of the most prominent developers in New York City — had acquired a hotel directly on Central Park, across from the American Museum of Natural History, with plans to convert the asset into free-market multifamily. The project represented one of a small number of hotel-to-multifamily conversions ever executed in Manhattan.

The Challenge

An incumbent lender that had stopped delivering.

The client's existing debt fund lender had grown increasingly difficult: limited construction draws, unexpected term changes during the work-out, and a lack of responsiveness that threatened the conversion timeline. With a hard maturity deadline approaching, the sponsor needed a reliable capital partner — and needed one fast.

The Solution

Re-placed the loan with a national private bank, sized for the full conversion.

Bauta Capital Advisory introduced the sponsor to a national private banking group with the balance sheet capacity and underwriting conviction to take out the incumbent and finance the conversion. We structured a bespoke facility providing flexible draw mechanics, extended term, and the certainty-of-execution language the sponsor required — closed inside the 40-day maturity window.

Outcome

1. 01Closed within the 40-day maturity deadline with zero extension risk.
2. 02Sized to approximately 80% loan-to-cost, funding the full conversion program.
3. 03Bank balance sheet execution with timely construction draw mechanics.
4. 04One of the rare hotel-to-multifamily conversions executed in Manhattan.