Ashkenazy Acquisition ups debt to $57M from $31M at Queens Center Mall

Ashkenazy Acquisition through the entity Queens Flagship LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Bank Hapoalim valued at $57 million for the Queens Center Mall retail building (K3) at 92-59 59th Avenue in Elmhurst, Queens. The building is occupied by JCPenny.
The deal closed on July 9, 2024 and was recorded on July 12, 2024. The prior lender was Benefit Street Partners which held debt that had an original loan amount of $31 million.The property has 202,383 square feet of built space and 208,955 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 411,330 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $281 and the price per buildable square foot is $138 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 December 23, 2021, for $40.5 million. The signatory for Ashkenazy Acquisition was Ben Ashkenazy. The signatory for Bank Hapoalim was Judy Barnes and Jason Ducret.
Ashkenazy Acquisition released information on the transaction.

Prior sales and revenue

The 202,383-square-foot property generated revenue of $5.1 million or $25 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The retail building in Elmhurst has 202,383 square feet of built space and 208,955 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 411,330 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 365 feet and is 224 feet deep with a total lot size of 82,266 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C4-5X which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 5 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $26.1 million. The most recent loan totaled $31 million and was provided by Benefit Street Partners on December 23, 2021.

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 and $1,000 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 Elmhurst, The bulk, or 40 percent of the 19.8 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, Elmhurst has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $198.3 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Elmhurst has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 533,291 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 two of the seven commercial properties representing 1,490,925 square feet of the 2,425,531 square feet. The two identified owners are Macerich and Ashkenazy Acquisition.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 89 percent of the 2.4 million square feet of built space are mixed-use buildings, with retail buildings next occupying 11 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Ashkenazy Acquisition owned at least eight commercial properties in New York City with 496,585 square feet and a city-determined market value of $92.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $132.1 million in debt, with top three lenders as Benefit Street Partners, Wilmington Trust, and Bank of Montreal respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 69 percent of the 496,585 square feet of built space are retail properties, with industrial properties next occupying 17 percent of the space. The bulk, or 43 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Bronx next at 30 percent of the space.

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