Walker & Dunlop Secures $112.5 Million Refinance for Brooklyn’s Coveted Ace Hotel

BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Walker & Dunlop, Inc. announced today that it has secured a $112.5 million loan to refinance the Ace Hotel Brooklyn, a 13-story, 154,947 square foot, 287-room full-service hotel located at 252 Schermerhorn Street in Brooklyn, New York.

Walker & Dunlop Capital Markets Institutional Advisory arranged the transaction for an affiliate of GFI Capital Resources Group, Inc. and Spruce Capital Partners. Aaron Appel, Jonathan Schwartz, Adam Schwartz, Keith Kurland, Dustin Stolly, Michael Brown, Sean Bastian, and Cole Grims, arranged the leasehold bridge loan from Torchlight Investors. Loan proceeds will be used to retire existing senior debt and preferred equity, including that provided by Corten Real Estate, as well as to fund closing and financing costs.

The hotel is located at the intersection of Fort Greene, Boerum Hill, and Downtown Brooklyn, with access to six subway lines providing direct connectivity to Midtown Manhattan within 30 minutes. Surrounded by cultural landmarks such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Barclays Center, as well as the boutique-lined neighborhoods of Boerum Hill and Brooklyn Heights, Ace Hotel Brooklyn has become one of the most sought-after destinations for both visitors and locals.

“New York City remains the most supply-constrained hotel market in the country, driven by significant regulatory barriers including the Safe Hotels Act, zoning amendments requiring special use permits, and Local Law 18, which restricts short-term rentals,” said Brown, managing director at Walker & Dunlop. “These factors have limited new hotel development, reduced existing supply, while tourism demand continues to surge, with more than 64 million visitors expected in 2025. We are pleased to support and arrange this transaction alongside our valued partners at GFI Development, Spruce Capital Partners, and Torchlight.”

Ace Hotel Brooklyn offers food-and-beverage and event operations featuring Lele’s Roman, bringing a fresh take on Roman cuisine, and Koju, a Japanese omakase concept, along with three fully leased ground-floor retail spaces occupied by Black Seed Bagels, Take Me With You, a bespoke gift boutique, and Finer Sounds, a record store. Additional amenities include event space and ballroom, and a state-of-the-art fitness center.

“New York is one of the most desirable hospitality markets in the country and is positioned for continued outsized year-over-year growth. Among the Top 25 lodging markets, New York ranks second nationally in RevPAR growth,” said Stan Spiegelman, COO at GFI. “The refinancing of Ace Brooklyn positions the hotel and our investors to continue capturing the exceptional growth potential we see across New York City. GFI’s core investment thesis for the coming years is grounded in our conviction in the continued strength of the New York City hospitality markets, which remain a key focus of our capital deployment. The market is benefiting from a rare convergence of strong macroeconomic tailwinds, sustained expansion within Brooklyn’s hospitality sector, and best-in-class execution by the team at Ace Hotel Brooklyn. We are grateful to Walker & Dunlop for their partnership and support in successfully bringing this transaction across the finish line.”

In 2024, Walker & Dunlop’s Capital Markets team sourced over $16 billion from non-Agency capital providers. This vast experience has made them a top advisor on all asset classes for many of the industry’s top developers, owners, and operators. To learn more about Walker & Dunlop’s broad financing options, visit our website.

About Walker & Dunlop

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE: WD) is one of the largest commercial real estate finance and advisory services firms in the United States and internationally. Our ideas and capital create communities where people live, work, shop, and play. Our innovative people, breadth of our brand, and our technological capabilities make us one of the most insightful and client-focused firms in the commercial real estate industry.

About GFI Capital Resources Group, Inc.

GFI is a full-service real estate company specializing in development, hospitality, and asset management. Since its inception in 1983, GFI has successfully acquired, developed, repositioned, operated and dispositioned over $3.0 billion in real estate assets. GFI has led the development of some of the country’s leading lifestyle hotels, including the Ace Hotel Brooklyn, Beekman Hotel, Ace Hotel New York, Hotel Seville NoMad (formerly the James Hotel), and the Thompson Central Park which have attained domestic and international acclaim.