Spain’s Losantos family obtains €150M loan for new NYC skyscraper

Allegra Holdings, a subsidiary of Maori European Holding, the property vehicle of Mario Losantos Ucha and family, has secured a construction loan of $165 million (€149.5 million) from Jutland Finance, a subsidiary of the large Canadian pension fund British Columbia Investment Management Corporation. 

Mario Losantos has partnered with Aria Development Group and Brooklyn-based high-end apartment builder Avery Hall Investments to build a residential skyscraper in New York as published in the accounts of the 2018 fiscal year presented to the Mercantile Registry. The project will be the fifth residential development that Avery Hall will do in partnership with Allegra Holdings. The JV partners have previosuly developed buildings in the city’s President, Columbia, Henry and Pacific streets. It is also the tenth investment of the group in New York, where the family has been investing for almost a decade and where they have other heritage properties, such as a Bergen Street building of 85 homes for rent. They also own two logistics platforms rented to Fedex in New York State or a restaurant in the financial district. The landing arrived with its first residential and commercial building in the Tribeca neighborhood in Manhattan, a property that Maori already sold two years ago.

Avery Hall is managing the design and development of the building and has declared it will break ground on the 21-story condo project- known as One Boerum Place – by the end of the month. The apartment building will be developed on the triangular block formed by Fulton Street, Boerum Place and Red Hook Lane.

According to Brian Ezra, founding principal at Avery Hall: «this location is unique because it has extra light and air» referring to the building’s position on a wide thoroughfare, catty-corner to greenspace at Borough Hall.

One Boerum Place will be one of the largest residential buildings in New York with a height of over 100 meters and 21 floors, the first two destined to commercial use and the rest focused on residential. The project contemplates 138 apartments from 60m² to attics of 300m² . Brian Ezra has explained that it is set «to be a very prominent building close to eight subway lines and right next to historic Brooklyn Heights.»

Allegra is the family office of the Losantos-Ucha family and was created after selling their real estate development company, Riofisa. The patriarch, Mario Losantos del Campo, who was from the town of Calahorra in La Rioja, sold 50% of Riofisa to Luis Portillo (President of Inmocaral) for €1 billion in 2007. His heirs, Irene, Eva, Mario and Sara Losantos and his wife Irene Ucha now have two property holdings: Maori European Holding and Allegra which own and develop properties in Spain, the USA, Australia and New Zealand having left the UK market due to the uncertainties around Brexit. Last year the family office bought a property in Virginia, USA and an office building in New Zealand (its 2^nd property in Oceania where it owns the Bulgari store next to the Sydney Opera house).