The developers of the five-story Pelham House apartment building under construction at 217 Fifth Avenue announced they have raised $73 million in debt financing for the project.
Hudson Companies, which is partnered with local resident Patrick Normoyle’s Pelham Green LLC, said Jan. 2 the funding is being provided by “Santander, Related Debt Fund and equity through Hudson’s joint venture Green Fund with the New York City Employees’ Retirement System and the Teachers’ Retirement System of the City of New York.”
Under a deal the development team struct with the Village of Pelham in 2022, the developers are building the rental tower at Fifth Avenue and Third Street, as well as the new Village of Pelham Municipal Center that will soon house all of the municipality’s administrative offices and the police and fire stations. The developers received village land—the old fire house and a parking lot—and zoning breaks in exchange for paying for the construction of the muni center at 200 Fifth Avenue, which is across the street from the properties the village traded.
The fire department and some other village departments have already moved into the 27,000-square-foot Municipal Center. Construction of the 127-unit rental building with 5,300 square feet of retail space at street level will be finished in the summer of 2027, Hudson Companies said in its Jan. 2 press release.
Funding to build the Municipal Center and the apartments has up to now come from equity sources, said Normoyle. The $73 million debt package will pay for the project going forward.
“From the beginning, one of our goals was to create a stunning new landmark for the village and to help revitalize this part of the downtown,” said Normoyle in the press release. “With the imminent completion of the new Municipal Center, we think we have done just that and look forward to continuing work on the mixed-use part of the project.”
The release said Normoyle’s Pelham Green LLC formed a strategic partnership with Hudson Companies to develop properties in 2020, though the statement is apparently to the first public announcement of Hudson’s role in the Pelham project. Hudson said it develops housing including townhouses, high rises, gut rehabilitation of warehouses and renovations of 100-year-old walk-ups. The company has completed more than 8,000 residential units, with almost 7,000 more in the pipeline.
“Hudson could not be prouder to deliver a transformational project that addresses a wide range of needs for the community with its much-needed housing and state-of-the-art Municipal Center,” said Joe Kohl Riggs of Hudson Companies in the press release. “We are inspired by the village’s initiative to revitalize this downtown corridor, Mayor [Chance] Mullen and the entire village board of trustees for their initiative to think creatively about solving New York State’s housing crisis.”
Six of the apartments in Pelham House will be set aside for households earning 80 percent of the area’s median income. The building is planned to include a gym, roof terrace, courtyard, business center, bike room, storage room and 219 parking spaces with 60 reserved as public municipal spaces, the release said.
(Normoyle’s company was originally called Pelham House LLC, but that changed when the entity Pelham Green LLC bought it out. The apartment building’s name remains Pelham House.)
