Aetna Realty pays $10M for three properties in Hell’s Kitchen

Aetna Realty paid $10 million to AAG Management through the entity Monet Fiftieth Realty Corp. for midblock 12-unit residential walkup building at 731 9th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan, midblock two-unit mixed-use building at 404 West 50th Street in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan, and four-unit property at 729 9th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan.The deal closed on May 10, 2022 and was recorded on May 19, 2022. The three properties have 23,625 square feet of built space and 21,110 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 44,746 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $423 and the price per buildable square foot is $223 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.)

Aetna recently paid $3 million for a commercial condo in Hell’s Kitchen. 

Because multiple properties have been transacted, some of the following sections will follow the property with the largest assessed value, which in this case, is the property on 404 West 50th Street.

Prior sales and revenue

Out of the three properties, two with a total of 23,625 square feet of built space generated revenue of $631,494 per year.

The property

The 404 West 50th Street parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,510 square feet. The zoning is R8 which allows for up to 6.02 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.9 million.
The 729 9th Avenue parcel has frontage of 50 feet and is 24 feet deep with a total lot size of 1,212 square feet. The zoning is R8 which allows for up to 6.02 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3 million.
The 731 9th Avenue parcel has frontage of 42 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 3,711 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R8 which allows for up to 6.02 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $1,000 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 Hell’s Kitchen, the bulk, or 39 percent of the 45 million square feet of commercial built space are residential elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 17 percent of the space. In sales, Hell’s Kitchen has 3.5 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $972.1 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 13th highest in Manhattan. For development, Hell’s Kitchen has 1.3 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 18th highest in Manhattan. It had 1.2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 3 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There were three pre-foreclosure suit filed among other mixed-use buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On the tax block of 404 West 50th Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the 28 commercial properties representing 38,439 square feet of the 827,162 square feet. The largest owner is Brian O’Neill, followed by Croman Real Estate and then Hung Luk. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 66 percent of the 854,473 square feet of built space are specialty buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 23 percent of the space.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 404 West 50th Street, Pincusco identified six commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those six items, two were for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. They were two permit applications with a total initial cost of $1 million. The most recent of these two items was the filing on May 12, 2022 for a 5,084-square-foot COM building with zero residential units at 742 Ninth Avenue.
Of those six items, two were sales above $5 million totaling $12.4 million. The most recent of the two was Madison Realty Capital which bought the 10,650-square-foot, 13-unit rental (C7) on 753 9th Avenue for $6.4 million from Marina Koustis on March 15, 2021.
Of those six items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $103.1 million. The most recent of the two was Mortar which borrowed $9.2 million from Hirshmark Capital secured by the 12,181-square-foot, eight-unit rental (D3) on WEST 49th Street on August 2, 2021.

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