Ashkenazy Acquisition ups debt back to $30M for Cross Bronx Plaza mall with $19M gap loan

Ashkenazy Acquisition through the entity Cross Bronx Plaza LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Voya Financial through the entity Voya Investment Management LLC valued at $30 million for the Cross Bronx Plaza retail center (K6) at 961 East 174th Street, with an alternate address of 1764 Vyse Avenue, in East Morrisania, the Bronx.
The deal closed on May 22, 2025 and was recorded on June 2, 2025. The prior lender was Rialto Management Group which held debt that had an original loan amount of $11.7 million.
The property has 134,000 square feet of built space and 1,001,391 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 1,137,094 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $223 and the price per buildable square foot is $26 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 Voya Financial was Jason Tessler . People’s United Bank provided $30 million in 2013, which was reduced to $11.7 million in September 2023, then bumped back up to $30 million with this new loan that added a $19.1 million gap mortgage.

Prior sales and revenue

The 134,000-square-foot property generated revenue of $6.4 million or $48 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The retail building in East Morrisania has 134,000 square feet of built space and 1,001,391 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 1,137,094 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 467,940 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 $26.5 million. The most recent loan totaled $11.7 million and was provided by M&T Bank on September 25, 2023.

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 two DOB violations, $22,500 in ECB penalties, and $30,250 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its 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 $106.3 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 983,262 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 8 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the 13 commercial properties representing 319,361 square feet of the 474,700 square feet. The largest owner is Ashkenazy Acquisition, followed by Dunn Development and then Liberty One Group.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 84,687 square feet. The largest is a 120-unit, 78,623 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Dunn Development and filed by Martin Dunn with plans filed April 19, 2024 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 10-unit, 6,064 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Lokeshwar Sooklall and filed by Lokeshwar Sooklall with plans filed October 3, 2024 and it has not been permitted yet.

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 10 commercial properties in New York City with 1,010,541 square feet and a city-determined market value of $203.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $234 million in debt, with top three lenders as Bank Hapoalim, Mesa West Capital, and Benefit Street Partners respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 68 percent of the 1,010,541 square feet of built space are retail properties, with hotel properties next occupying 17 percent of the space. The bulk, or 55 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Manhattan next at 30 percent of the space.

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