$5.7M dev site contract in Bronx falls through

An entity affiliated with Israel Frankel alleged it was in contract to buy 2047 Ryer Avenue in Fordham Heights, the Bronx from the Gjonbalaj family’s Spaxel for $5.7 million, but the sale was not consummated and the buyer wants the deposit back. The complaint alleges the seller has not returned the deposit.

The parties signed a contract March 20, 2023, to sell for $5.7 million, and the buyer put down a $427,500 deposit, according to the filing. LINK

According to the complaint, “Plaintiff has notified Defendant of Defendant’s inability to convey insurable fee simple title to the entirety of the Property.”

Spaxel includes the property on its website here.

The neighborhood

In Fordham Heights, The bulk, or 46 percent of the 16.3 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 35 percent of the space. In sales, Fordham Heights has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $150.3 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 10th highest in Bronx. For development, Fordham Heights has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 15th highest in Bronx. It had 678,451 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 4 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 19 of the 37 commercial properties representing 827,749 square feet of the 1,027,395 square feet. The largest owner is Aaron Bauer, followed by ACMH and then Aleksander Gilkarov. On the tax block, there were 13 new building construction projects totaling 580,931 square feet. The largest is a 111-unit, 75,672 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Arben Mitaj and filed by Arben Mitaj with plans filed September 29, 2020 and permitted October 20, 2021. The second largest is a 102-unit, 67,673 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Spaxel and filed by Gzim Hasandjekic with plans filed March 5, 2020 and permitted June 3, 2022.

The owner

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Gurakuq Gjonbalaj, head officer and Pasquale Suriano, agent. The business entity is 2047 Ryer Avenue LLC.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 2047 Ryer Avenue, PincusCo identified nine commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those nine items, four were in new building development. There were three new building permit applications and one new building permit. The most recent of these four items was a filing on May 22, 2022 for a 13,295-square-foot residential (R-2) building with 24 residential units at 2071 Ryer Avenue. Of those nine items, one was for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. It was a permit application filed on June 1, 2022 for the $1.3 million renovation of 13,116-square-foot residential (R-2) building with 23 residential units at 2073 Ryer Avenue. Of those nine items, four were loans above $5 million totaling $80 million. The most recent of the four was Aleksandr Gilkarov in which borrowed $11.2 million from NorthEast Community Bank secured by the 1,947-square-foot development site (V0) on 2067 Anthony Avenue and two other properties on February 6, 2023.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.