Abramson Brothers signs $17.5M refi loan with JPMorgan Chase for office in Grand Central

Abramson Brothers through the entity 501 Fifth Avenue Company LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender JPMorgan Chase valued at $17.5 million for the office building (O4) at 501 Fifth Avenue in Grand Central, Manhattan.
The deal closed on January 31, 2023 and was recorded on February 1, 2023. The prior lender was Wells Fargo which held debt that had an original loan amount of $17.5 million. The property has 132,961 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $131 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 January 6, 2006, for $15.8 million. The signatory for Abramson Brothers was Alan B. Abramson. The signatory for JPMorgan Chase was Jennifer Smith.

Prior sales and revenue

The 132,961-square-foot property generated revenue of $9.8 million or $74 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The 501 5th Avenue parcel has frontage of 73 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 7,325 square feet. The zoning is C5-3 which allows for up to 15 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $34.3 million.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was involved in one lawsuit and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The suit was a $2.9 million money judgment concerning a retail rent filed on June 29, 2021, against Katherine Corp. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received one DOB violation and $350 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $5 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Grand Central, the majority, or 81 percent of the 43.5 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space. In sales, Grand Central has 3 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $1 billion in sales volume in the last two years and is the 14th highest in Manhattan. For development, Grand Central has 2.5 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 11th highest in Manhattan. It had 2.5 million 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 13 commercial properties representing 2,292,981 square feet of the 3,601,789 square feet. The two identified owners are Empire State Realty Trust and Brookfield Properties.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 92 percent of the 3.6 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 6 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Abramson Brothers owned at least three commercial properties in New York City with 308,710 square feet and a city-determined market value of $62.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $53.8 million in debt, borrowed from JPMorgan Chase. Within the portfolio, all identified are office properties. They are all located in Manhattan.

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