Ashkenazy signs $19M refi in Washington Heights, once threatened by default

Ashkenazy Acquisition through the entity 177th Upper Broadway Holdings LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender JPMorgan Chase valued at $19 million for the industrial building (G1) at 4168 Broadway in Washington Heights, Manhattan. The property was the subject of at least two lawsuits and allegations of loan defaults.
The deal closed on February 23, 2023 and was recorded on February 27, 2023. The most recent lender was NY Opportunity Capital Co. which held debt that had an original loan amount of $22 million.

The property has 85,176 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $223 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 November 16, 2012, for $11.8 million. The signatory for Ashkenazy Acquisition was Ben Ashkenazy. The signatory for JPMorgan Chase was Sarah Haley. The loan was sold twice with Maverick Real Estate Partners buying it then selling it to the Sharon Berger entity, NY Opportunity Capital Co.

Prior sales and revenue

The 85,176-square-foot property generated revenue of $1.6 million or $19 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The 4168 Broadway parcel has frontage of 103 feet and is 156 feet deep with a total lot size of 14,089 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C8-3 which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $6.6 million.The most recent loan totaled 0.0 and was provided by NY Opportunity Capital Co. on August 17, 2021.

Violations and lawsuits

There were two lawsuits since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received one DOB violation, $1,250 in ECB penalties, and $9,430 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on September 21, 2012. There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $5 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Washington Heights, the bulk, or 45 percent of the 66 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space. In sales, Washington Heights has 1.6 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $561.1 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 25th highest in Manhattan. For development, Washington Heights has 1.3 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 23rd highest in Manhattan. It had 1.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 2 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the 16 commercial properties representing 210,692 square feet of the 363,514 square feet. The largest owner is Bronstein Properties, followed by Ashkenazy Acquisition and then Alma Realty.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 31 percent of the 363,514 square feet of built space are industrial buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 29 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 $53.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $95.1 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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