33 Equities pays $27M to Aleksander Lakaj for newly built 79-unit rental in Williamsbridge

33 Equities through the entity 1039 Gun Hill Road III LLC paid $27 million to Aleksander Lakaj through the entity 1039 Gun Hill LLC for the newly built, 79-unit rental building at 1039 Gun Hill Road in Williamsbridge, Bronx.

On the lot, there is a new building project for a 79-unit, 53,599 square-foot residential (R-2) building, job number X00693446, submitted by Alex Lakaj and filed by Alex Lakaj with plans filed March 10, 2022 and permitted October 19, 2023.
The deal closed on June 24, 2024 and was recorded on July 2, 2024. The property has a total buildable of 53,997 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per buildable square foot is $500 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 seller bought the property on December 27, 2021, for $4.2 million. The signatory for Aleksander Lakaj was Aleksander Lakaj. The signatory for 33 Equities was Tucker Shane. The contract date was September 9, 2022, six months after Lakaj filed the new building plans.

33 Equities financed the purchase with a $20 million loan from Israel Discount Bank.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer 33 Equities purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $11 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Aleksander Lakaj had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The most recent loan totaled $17.7 million and was provided by Northeast Community Bank on December 20, 2022.

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 one DOB violation in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Williamsbridge, The bulk, or 40 percent of the 6.9 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 26 percent of the space. In sales, Williamsbridge has the 18th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in Bronx with $60.7 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Williamsbridge has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 422,563 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 6 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the six commercial properties representing 17,045 square feet of the 52,126 square feet. The two identified owners are Bardhok Kodra and Aleksander Lakaj.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects. The largest is a 84-unit, 55,771 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Kodra Construction and filed by Bardhok Kodra with plans filed January 10, 2022 and permitted April 5, 2023. The second largest is a 79-unit, 53,599 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Alex Lakaj and filed by Alex Lakaj with plans filed March 10, 2022 and permitted May 10, 2023.

The majority, or 39 percent of the 52,126 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with retail buildings next occupying 29 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Aleksander Lakaj owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 8,350 square feet and a city-determined market value of $920,000. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $17.7 million in debt, borrowed from Northeast Community Bank. The portfolio consists of at least a single industrial property. It is located in Bronx.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that 33 Equities owned at least three commercial properties with 114 residential units in New York City with 65,039 square feet and a city-determined market value of $9.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $47.5 million in debt, with top three lenders as Israel Discount Bank, Dwight Capital, and Peapack-Gladstone Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 75 percent of the 65,039 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 25 percent of the space. The bulk, or 75 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Manhattan next at 25 percent of the space.

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