Arker signs ground leases valued at $116M with NYCHA, gets $823M loan, for Bronx rehab

Arker Companies signed two ground leases valued at $116 million with NYCHA, and obtained a $823 million renovation and acquisition loan.

In the first lease, Arker Companies through the entity NW Bronx Housing Preservation Experience L.P. as tenant acquired a ground lease valued at $38.7 million with the landlord New York City Housing Authority through the entity New York City Housing Authority for a 798-unit, six-building portfolio including the 344-unit residential elevator building (D3) at 3320 Bailey Avenue in Kingsbridge Heights, Bronx, 221-unit residential elevator building (D7) at 735 Oakland Place in Tremont, Bronx, and 233-unit residential elevator building (D9) at 2661 Heath Avenue in Fordham Manor, Bronx. The expected use is cash flowing.

In the second lease, Arker acquired a ground lease valued at $77.2 million with landlord  New York City Housing Authority for the 220-unit residential elevator building (D4) at 1010 East 178th Street in West Farms, Bronx, 239-unit residential elevator building (D1) at 559 East 180th Street in Belmont/Little Italy, Bronx, and 72-unit residential elevator building (D7) at 1925 University Avenue in Morris Heights, Bronx. The expected use is cash flowing.
The deal closed on June 24, 2025 and was recorded on July 10, 2025. The 13 properties have 933,388 square feet of built space and 97,533 square feet of additional air rights according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $82 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 deal closed on June 24, 2025 and was recorded on July 10, 2025. The six properties have 757,870 square feet of built space and 105,508 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 825,610 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $51 and the price per buildable square foot is $46 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 City Housing Authority was Jonathan Gouveia . The signatory for Arker Companies was Simon Bacchus . This is a 99-year ground lease, part of the PACT program to put NYCHA assets under private management. Lease started June 24, 2025.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Arker Companies purchased nine properties in one transaction for a total of $137.6 million and sold three properties in two transactions for a total of $19.1 million over the past 24 months.
The seller New York City Housing Authority purchased 10 properties in two transactions for a total of $151.5 million and leased 213 properties in eight transactions for a total of $508.3 million over the same time period. Out of the six properties, one with a total of 757,870 square feet of built space generated revenue of $3.7 million per year.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $1,250 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 the tax block of 3320 Bailey Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of 12 of the 20 commercial properties representing 762,832 square feet of the 861,691 square feet. The largest owner is New York City Housing Authority, followed by Lantree Developments and then Peterson Capital.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 39,549 square feet. The largest is a 40-unit, 31,602 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by 57 Group and filed by Yaniv Zohar with plans filed July 7, 2021 and permitted December 6, 2022. The second largest is a 15-unit, 7,946 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Blue Sky Builders and filed by Israel Tishler with plans filed May 5, 2025 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 73 percent of the 861,691 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that New York City Housing Authority owned at least 554 commercial properties with 160,924 residential units in New York City with 134,111,948 square feet and a city-determined market value of $11.4 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $79.3 million in debt, borrowed from Breaking Ground. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 97 percent of the 134,111,948 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 3 percent of the space. The bulk, or 34 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 31 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Arker Companies owned at least 84 commercial properties with 5,004 residential units in New York City with 4,865,735 square feet and a city-determined market value of $489.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $513.3 million in debt, with top three lenders as Merchants Capital, Merchants Bank of Indiana, and NYC Housing Development Corporation respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 57 percent of the 4,865,735 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 28 percent of the space. The bulk, or 44 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Bronx next at 37 percent of the space.

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