Arcus Development pays $14M to Walter & Samuels for 22K garage in East Village, second W&S sale this month

Arcus Development through the entity Astor Nine LLC paid $14 million to David Berley’s Walter & Samuels through the entity Penber 9th Street Garage LLC for the industrial building (G1) at 220 East 9th Street in East Village, Manhattan. This is Walter & Samuels’ second sale closed this month.

The deal closed on March 1, 2024 and was recorded on March 26, 2024. The property has 22,460 square feet of built space and 9,055 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 31,496 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $623 and the price per buildable square foot is $444 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 Walter & Samuels was David I. Berley. The signatory for Arcus Development was Roger Bittenbender. The Walter & Samuels’ entity that owned the building for decades acquired title to the property in 1978, but no tax was paid so its likely the principals had an interest in the property earlier.

Arcus financed the purchase with an $8.4 million loan from Derby Copeland Capital.

In the other Walter & Samuels sale, Sami Souid’s Gotham Assets paid $22.2 million to Walter & Samuels for the office building (O6) at 225 West 39th Street in Garment District, Manhattan.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Arcus Development had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Walter & Samuels had not purchased any other properties and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $22.2 million over the same time period.

The property

The industrial building in East Village has 22,460 square feet of built space and 9,055 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 31,496 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 105 feet and is 75 feet deep with a total lot size of 7,874 square feet. The zoning is R8B which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $6 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 three DOB violations, $5,000 in ECB penalties, and $5,825 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 East Village, The bulk, or 44 percent of the 15.5 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 20 percent of the space. In sales, East Village has 1.8 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $506.2 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 17th highest in Manhattan. For development, East Village has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 418,205 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.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 13 of the 30 commercial properties representing 119,964 square feet of the 270,844 square feet. The largest owner is UBS Realty Investors, followed by a company registered with Tarter Krinsky & Drogin and then Richard Gioia.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 29,089 square feet. It is a 29,089 square-foot business (B) building submitted by Mark Seigel with plans filed October 12, 2018 and permitted April 27, 2023.

The majority, or 56 percent of the 270,844 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 16 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Walter & Samuels owned at least nine commercial properties with five residential units in New York City with 535,197 square feet and a city-determined market value of $126.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $112.1 million in debt, borrowed from Bank of America and Citibank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 82 percent of the 535,197 square feet of built space are office properties, with specialty properties next occupying 14 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

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