Ashkenazy Acquisition cuts debt on Bronx mall to $11.7M, down from $30M

Ben Ashkenazy’s Ashkenazy Acquisition through the entity Cross Bronx Plaza LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender M&T Bank through the entity Manufacturers And Traders Trust Company valued at $11.7 million for the retail building (K6) at 961 East 174th Street in East Morrisania, Bronx.
The deal closed on September 25, 2023 and was recorded on October 6, 2023. The prior lender was M&T Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $30 million.The property has 134,000 square feet of built space and 1,001,389 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 1,137,091 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $87 and the price per buildable square foot is $10 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 owner bought the property on September 25, 2008, for $45.9 million. The signatory for Ashkenazy Acquisition was Ben Ashkenazy. The signatory for M&T Bank was Matthew Gutauskas. The original principal when People’s United Bank gave it to Ashkanazy in 2013 was $30 million. M&T acquired People’s United Bank in 2022.

The property

The retail building in East Morrisania has 134,000 square feet of built space and 1,001,389 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 1,137,091 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 898 feet and is 620 feet deep with a total lot size of 467,939 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C4-2 which allows for up to 3.4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 2.43 times FAR for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $22.8 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 eight DOB violations and $4,730 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received a renovation initial certificate of occupancy on February 19, 2015. 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 Morrisania, The bulk, or 43 percent of the 12 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 30 percent of the space. In sales, East Morrisania has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $102.9 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, East Morrisania has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 844,377 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 7 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the 13 commercial properties representing 185,361 square feet of the 474,700 square feet. The largest owner is PWB Management Corp, followed by Dunn Development and then Asher Shafran.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 37 percent of the 474,700 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with retail buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Ashkenazy Acquisition owned at least five commercial properties in New York City with 337,415 square feet and a city-determined market value of $61.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $114.1 million in debt, with top three lenders as Benefit Street Partners, Wilmington Trust, and Bank of Montreal respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 62 percent of the 337,415 square feet of built space are retail properties, with industrial properties next occupying 25 percent of the space. The bulk, or 60 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Manhattan next at 40 percent of the space.

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