The $420M Black Rock Loan, As the Record Actually Shows It

The $420,000,000 loan on 51 West 52nd Street, the 1964 tower built for CBS and still called Black Rock, is reported to have left special servicing on a twelve month extension. That may well be right. It cannot be checked, because the trust holding the loan does not file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the figures circulating with the story have no public document under them.

Why it matters

Single-asset, single-borrower CMBS is where the largest New York office loans live, and a developer reading the office recovery is usually reading servicer commentary at second hand. When a trust is privately placed, there is no 10-D and no ABS-EE, so occupancy and debt service coverage numbers reach the market only through whoever is willing to describe them. That is not a reason to ignore the story. It is a reason to treat the occupancy figure as a claim rather than a disclosure, and to work from the deed record instead, which is public and complete.

The numbers

The record is clear on the origin. On October 13, 2021, CBS Broadcasting Inc. conveyed the building to 51 W. Owner, LP for $760,000,000, recorded October 26. The same day the buyer recorded a $420,000,000 mortgage to DBR Investments Co. Limited and Goldman Sachs Bank USA, with a matching assignment of leases and rents. Within weeks the notes moved to German American Capital Corporation and Goldman Sachs Mortgage Company, and on December 6, 2021 to Wells Fargo Bank as trustee. Those assignments recorded in February 2022.

The building is 38 floors and 817,095 sq ft on a 47,725 sq ft lot, with a built floor area ratio of 17.12 against a commercial ratio of 15.0, and a total assessed value of $154,502,550.

Since February 2022 exactly two instruments have been recorded against the lot: an agreement dated August 13, 2025 involving Wells Fargo as trustee and Brightstar Capital Partners, and one dated January 20, 2026 involving KBRA Holdings. Both carry a recorded amount of zero, which is normal for agreements of this type and tells you nothing about their terms.

What’s next

A loan modification is recordable. If the extension was documented against the property, a new agreement should post to ACRIS, whose data currently runs through August 31. Until then, treat the occupancy and cash flow figures as unsourced. See our coverage of SL Green’s Manhattan leasing and the New York market.