Ashkenazy buys out Gindi partners’ 49.9% stake at retail in East Morrisania

Ashkenazy Acquisition acquired an interest from Eddie Gindi, Raymond Gindi, and Isaac Gindi through the entity G-Cross Bronx Partners valued for the purposes of city transaction taxes at $20.3 million, for a 49.9 percent stake in the retail building (K6) at 961 East 174th Street in East Morrisania, Bronx. The parties recently settles a multi-year dispute over their holdings, as The Real Deal reported last month.
The sale price, which is for just under 50 percent of a calculated total of about $40.6 million, appears to be the value of the property at the time of the 2013 refinance, and not its current value, according to an analysis by PincusCo. For example the debt was $30 million in 2013 and that loan was extended to July 2025 but with a principal of only $11.7 million. A commercial loan is typically 50 percent to 65 percent of the value of an asset.

The deal closed on September 19, 2024 and was recorded on September 30, 2024. The property has 134,000 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $151. (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 seller bought the property on September 25, 2008, for $45.9 million.
This is an entity level sale, and a sale between partners. This property was one of many litigated in the dispute between the Gindi family and Ashkenazy. The partnership bought the property for $33.6 million in 2006, and in 2013 borrowed $30 million.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Ashkenazy Acquisition had purchased any other properties and sold or turned over six properties in four transactions for a total of $282.3 million over the past 24 months.

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 $22.8 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 one DOB violation, $3,125 in ECB penalties, and $22,705 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 the 22nd highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in Bronx with $50.1 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 690,106 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 6 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 Joel Shafran.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 78,623 square feet. It 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 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 buyer

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 $227.7 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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