Bobby Adjmi pays $7.5M to nonprofit for 13-unit rental in Lenox Hill

UPDATED: Bobby Adjmi through the entity 17 East 70th Holdings LLC paid $7.5 million to J.T. Tai & Co. Foundation for the 13-unit residential elevator building (D5) at 17 East 70th Street in Lenox Hill, Manhattan.
The deal closed on January 31, 2024 and was recorded on February 7, 2024. The property has 12,075 square feet of built space and 13,026 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 25,100 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $621 and the price per buildable square foot is $298 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 signatory for J.T. Tai & Co. Foundation was Kueichu W. Hsu. The signatory for Bobby Adjmi was Robert Adjmi. The contract date was December 7, 2023. J.T. Tai & Co Foundation Inc. is a nonprofit that gives to a wide range of recipients including the Peking University Education Foundation in California, Friends of Soochow University in California, Children’s Hospital of Colorado and others. Hsu is the managing director of J.T. Tai.

Prior sales and revenue

The seller J.T. Tai & Co. Foundation had not purchased any other properties and sold two properties in one transactions for a total of $41.5 million over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Kueichu Hsu, head officer and William Hogan, site manager. The business entity is J.T. Tai & Co. Inc.

The property

The residential elevator building with 13 residential units in Lenox Hill has 12,075 square feet of built space and 13,026 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 25,100 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,510 square feet. The zoning is C5-1 which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The property is in the Upper East Side Historic District. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2.7 million.

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 $100 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 $1 million on this tax lot.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the five commercial properties representing 12,060 square feet of the 49,114 square feet. The identified owner is Bernard Friedman.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 27 percent of the 49,114 square feet of built space are retail buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that ACHS Management owned at least 68 commercial properties with 106 residential units in New York City with 1,197,960 square feet and a city-determined market value of $357.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 64 percent of the 1,197,960 square feet of built space are retail properties, with mixed-use properties next occupying 27 percent of the space. The bulk, or 38 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 26 percent of the space.

Correction: A previous version of this story reported the buyer as ACHS Management, which is controlled by members of the Adjmi family. However this property was purchased by Bobby Adjmi apart from ACHS. 

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