Alma Realty signs $49M refi loan with Dime for 10 properties in Manhattan

Alma Realty through the entity Gvs Properties IV, LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Dime Community Bank valued at $49 million for 10 properties including the 88-unit residential elevator building (D1) at 9 Thayer Street in Washington Heights, Manhattan, 75-unit residential walkup building (C1) at 38 Sickles Street in Washington Heights, Manhattan, and 61-unit residential walkup building (C1) at 90 Ellwood Street in Washington Heights, Manhattan.
The deal closed on July 13, 2022 and was recorded on July 27, 2022. The prior lender was New York Community Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $50 million. The 10 properties have 405,728 square feet of built space and 38,041 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 406,711 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $120 and the price per buildable square foot is $120 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 Alma Realty was John Mavroudis. The signatory for Dime Community Bank was Louis Ciniglio.

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 38 Sickles Street.

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Efstathios Valiotis, head officer and George Sakellaris, officer. The business entities are Alma Realty Corp and Gvs Properties Iv Llc. The 10 properties with a total of 405,728 square feet of built space generated revenue of $7.1 million per year or $18 per square foot.

The property

The 38 Sickles Street parcel has frontage of 140 feet and is 170 feet deep with a total lot size of 23,800 square feet. The zoning is R7-2 which allows for up to 3.44 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $4.9 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 eight DOB violations, $3,750 in ECB penalties, 134 housing violations, $10,280 in OATH penalties, and one housing litigation 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 block

On the tax block of 38 Sickles Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of 42 of the 72 commercial properties representing 1,288,718 square feet of the 1,831,115 square feet. The largest owner is Alma Realty, followed by Prana Investments and then Bronstein Properties. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 74 percent of the 1.8 million square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 20 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Alma Realty owned at least 125 commercial properties in New York City with 5,384,134 square feet and a city-determined market value of $479.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $417.7 million in debt, with top three lenders as New York Community Bank, Efstathios Valiotis, and JPMorgan Chase respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 68 percent of the 5,384,134 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 25 percent of the space. The bulk, or 38 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Queens next at 31 percent of the space.

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