AJ Property Management NYC signs $14.4M refi for office in Chelsea

Andrew Justin’s AJ Property Management NYC through the entity JR Building Associates as borrower signed a refi loan with lender JPMorgan Chase valued at $14.4 million for the office building (O6) at 231 West 29th Street in Chelsea, Manhattan.
The deal closed on December 18, 2024 and was recorded on December 24, 2024. The prior lender was JPMorgan Chase which held debt that had an original loan amount of $17 million.The property has 144,323 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $99 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 AJ Property Management NYC was Andrew Justin. The signatory for JPMorgan Chase was Ursula Flores. Andrew Justin of AJ Property Management NYC bought out family members of Justin Management at the building, The Real Deal reported in 2018.

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Andrew Justin, head officer and Robert Riederman, shareholder. The business entities are AJ Property Management NYC Llc and Jr Building Associates.

The property

The office building in Chelsea has 144,323 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 117 feet and is 98 feet deep with a total lot size of 11,482 square feet. The zoning is M1-6D which allows for up to 10 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $20.4 million. The property has 7 rent regulated units according to city tax records from 2023.

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 two DOB violations and $1,350 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 $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Chelsea, The bulk, or 35 percent of the 52.5 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space. In sales, Chelsea has the 7th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.2 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Chelsea has 1.7 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 20th highest in Manhattan. It had 1.9 million 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. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other office buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 19 of the 32 commercial properties representing 836,823 square feet of the 1,351,585 square feet. The largest owner is Bernstein Real Estate, followed by Ironstate Development and then Himmel + Meringoff Properties.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 80 percent of the 1.4 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 16 percent of the space.

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