Commercial Condo Deal Wins Award

The New York Real Estate Journal and The Commercial Observer reported that Triangle Equities, with the help of Goldman Sachs Urban Investments, won The Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits’ award for Qualified Low Income Community Investment of the Year for its use of tax credits in connection with its Triangle Plaza Hub, a $35 million, 88,000 square foot mixed-use development in the South Bronx. Facing several obstacles to its financing, the project tapped the New Markets Tax Credit program, thus securing loans through Goldman Sachs Urban Investments and the New York State Healthy Food Healthy Communities fund. Finding an appropriate tenant for the office space was challenging, though, and after more than a year of negotiation with Olshan client Metropolitan College, it was concluded that Metropolitan would purchase the commercial condominium, assuming some of the debt on the project as soon as the building was complete. The project, which is expected to be completed by January 2015, will support community revitalization efforts by providing access to fresh and healthy food in a New York City and State defined food desert, thus addressing the issue of food insecurity in one of the poorest congressional districts in the United States complex. Thomas Kearns represented Metropolitan College in its purchase using New Markets Tax Credits.