Alchemy Ventures pays $11.2M to long-time owners for 36-unit UWS rental

Alchemy Ventures through the entity 310 West 80th Street Owner LLC paid $11.2 million to Susan Schwarz and Ira Schwarz through the entity Fontenoy, LLC for the 36-unit residential elevator building (D1) at 310 West 80th Street in Upper West Side, Manhattan.
The deal closed on February 14, 2024 and was recorded on March 1, 2024. The property has 22,728 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $494 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 Susan Schwarz and Ira Schwarz was Anthony T. Simari. The signatory for Alchemy Ventures was Samuel Kooris. The contract date was October 31, 2023. The Schwarz family has owned a stake in the property since at least 1961.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Alchemy Ventures purchased 14 properties in 13 transactions for a total of $60.9 million and sold four properties in four transactions for a total of $15.1 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Susan Schwarz had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Ira Schwarz, head officer and The Fontenoy Gst Exempt Trust, shareholder. The business entity is Fontenoy Llc.

The property

The residential elevator building with 36 residential units in Upper West Side has 22,728 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 50 feet and is 102 feet deep with a total lot size of 5,108 square feet. The zoning is R8B which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The property is in the Riverside Drive-West 80th – 81st Street Historic District. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $5.9 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 $50 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 17 of the 24 commercial properties representing 405,779 square feet of the 780,805 square feet. The largest owner is William Deseta, followed by Russell Harkavy and then Robert M. White Jr..
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 67 percent of the 780,805 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 14 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Alchemy Ventures owned at least 48 commercial properties with 433 residential units in New York City with 388,606 square feet and a city-determined market value of $126 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $90.4 million in debt, with top three lenders as Fortress Investment Group, Signature Bank, and Citibank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 84 percent of the 388,606 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with mixed-use properties next occupying 16 percent of the space. The bulk, or 71 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 28 percent of the space.

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