Asian Americans for Equality pays $10.3M for bankrupt 25-unit building in Bay Ridge

The nonprofit Asian Americans for Equality through the entity 345 Ovington Avenue Housing Development Fund Corp. paid $10.3 million through a bankruptcy court related to the entity 345 Ovington LLC, for the 25-unit residential elevator building (D1) at 345 Ovington Avenue in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. The former developer had plan to sell the units as condominiums.
The deal closed on May 23, 2024 and was recorded on June 6, 2024. The property has 21,824 square feet of built space and 331 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 22,126 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $470 and the price per buildable square foot is $464 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 seller bought the property on February 1, 2011, for $1.5 million. The signatory for the bankrupt property formerly owned by Xi Hui Wu was attorney Gregory M. Messer. The signatory for Asian Americans for Equality was Thomas Yu. The contract date was March 1, 2024. This is a sale through an involuntary chapter 7 bankruptcy (22-41782 in Eastern District) sale against the former owner Xi Hui Wu.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Asian Americans for Equality had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The former owner Xi Hui Wu had not purchased any other properties and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $7.2 million over the same time period. The former owner according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development is Xi Hui Wu, head officer. The business entity is 345 Ovington Llc.

The property

The residential elevator building with 25 residential units in Bay Ridge has 21,824 square feet of built space and 331 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 22,126 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 64 feet and is 171 feet deep with a total lot size of 11,063 square feet. The zoning is R6B which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.2 million.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was involved in two lawsuits and one bankruptcy over the past two years. The highest value suit was a $5 million money judgment concerning a condo fraud filed on November 2, 2022, by State of New York against Xi Hui Wu. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $180 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on March 12, 2015. There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot. On the tax lot, the most recent condominium plan was filed by 345 OVINGTON, LLC ** to create 25 residential units in a building at 345 Ovington Avenue in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, called Ovington Condominium that has a $11.3 million sellout, according to an January 7, 2013 submission to the New York State Attorney General.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the 28 commercial properties representing 208,703 square feet of the 316,814 square feet. The largest owner is Yiu Chong Yu, followed by Reza Ghassabeh and then Mitchell Shpelfogel.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 66 percent of the 316,814 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Asian Americans For Equality owned at least 26 commercial properties with 393 residential units in New York City with 322,560 square feet and a city-determined market value of $65.2 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $79.2 million in debt, borrowed from UMB Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 52 percent of the 322,560 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with elevator properties next occupying 48 percent of the space. The bulk, or 98 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Queens next at 2 percent of the space.

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