Albanese Organization signs $15.2M ground lease with NY Botanical for dev site in Fordham Manor

Albanese Organization as a tenant through the entity 450 Bedford Park Blvd Bronx, LLC, signed a 99-year ground lease with the New York Botanical Garden as landlord through the entity Bedford Gardens Bronx, LLC for the development site at 450 Bedford Park Bouleverd, in Fordham Manor, Bronx. The expected use is ground up development. The city valued the ground lease at $15.2 million for tax purposes.
The deal closed on August 7, 2024 and was recorded on August 12, 2024. The property has zero square feet of built space and 104,978 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 104,978 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per buildable square foot is $144 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 New York Botanical Garden was Lauren Turchio, its COO. The signatory for Albanese Organization was Christopher V. Albanese. This is 99-year ground lease for affordable housing construction.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Albanese Organization had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller New York Botanical Garden had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 184 feet and is zero feet deep with a total lot size of 43,201 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R6 which allows for up to 2.43 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2.4 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 not received any significant violations 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 Fordham Manor, The bulk, or 35 percent of the 18.4 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space. In sales, Fordham Manor has the 20th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in Bronx with $60.7 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Fordham Manor has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 651,635 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

There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 100 percent of the 94,050 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with development buildings next occupying 0 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Albanese Organization owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 29,600 square feet and a city-determined market value of $14.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $20 million in debt, borrowed from Dime Community Bank. The portfolio consists of at least a single office property. It is located in Manhattan.

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