$25M construction loan for Barone, Shie Lefkovits, Azimuth school project in Laurelton

Barone Management, Shie Lefkovits, and Azimuth Development Group through the entity Bmad Merrick LLC as borrower obtained a new construction loan with lender Broadview Capital valued at $25 million for the school construction project at 134-11 221st Street in Laurelton, Queens.
On this parcel there is a new building project, Q00970820, for a 60,171 square-foot school building submitted by Azimuth Development Group and Shimon Klein and filed by Shimon Kleinman on January 24, 2024 and permitted July 26, 2024.
The deal closed on November 6, 2024 and was recorded on November 14, 2024. The property has a total buildable of 60,171 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan per buildable square foot is $415 per the PincusCo analysis. (The price per square foot analysis is the transaction price divided by square feet as reported in public records and assumes no air rights have been sold.)
The owner bought the property on August 10, 2023, for $8.7 million. The signatory for Barone Management, Shie Lefkovits, and Azimuth Development Group was Shie Lefkovits. The signatory for Broadview Capital was Lawrence Andelsman, an attorney. This is for Merrick Academy-Queens Public Charter School.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 147 feet and is 165 feet deep with a total lot size of 24,518 square feet. The zoning is R5D which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $622,000. The most recent loan totaled $8.4 million and was provided by 360 Capital Funding on June 30, 2021.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $8,125 in ECB penalties and $8,425 in OATH penalties in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Laurelton, The bulk, or 26 percent of the 1.2 million square feet of commercial built space are retail buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space. In sales, Laurelton has the 31st highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in Queens with $29 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Laurelton has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 86,259 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 7 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the two commercial properties representing 13,300 square feet of the 13,300 square feet. The two identified owners are Myron J. Berman and Azimuth Development Group.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 132,301 square feet. The largest is a 81-unit, 72,130 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Myron Berman with plans filed January 17, 2020 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 60,171 square-foot 57 building submitted by Azimuth Development Group|Shimon Klein and filed by Shimon Kleinman with plans filed January 24, 2024 and permitted July 26, 2024.

The majority, or 100 percent of the 13,300 square feet of built space are industrial buildings, with development buildings next occupying 0 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Barone Management owned at least nine commercial properties with 11 residential units in New York City with 280,093 square feet and a city-determined market value of $36.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $109.2 million in debt, with top three lenders as Metropolitan Commercial Bank, Berkshire Group, and Low Income Investment Fund respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 41 percent of the 280,093 square feet of built space are specialty properties, with office properties next occupying 36 percent of the space. The bulk, or 73 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Bronx next at 24 percent of the space.
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Azimuth Development Group owned at least eight commercial properties with 345 residential units in New York City with 154,170 square feet and a city-determined market value of $16.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $106.5 million in debt, with top three lenders as NYS Housing Finance Agency, NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and KeyBank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 57 percent of the 154,170 square feet of built space are specialty properties, with D6 properties next occupying 33 percent of the space. The bulk, or 90 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Bronx next at 10 percent of the space.
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Shie Lefkovits owned at least one commercial property with 40 residential units in New York City with 30,621 square feet and a city-determined market value of $2.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $16 million in debt, borrowed from Popular Bank. The portfolio consists of at least a single elevator property. It is located in Brooklyn.

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