Atlantic Development files plans for 333-unit rental in Morris Heights

Peter Fine of Atlantic Development Group submitted a new building construction project for a 333-unit, 243,007 square-foot residential (R-2) building at 1959 Jerome Avenue in Morris Heights, Bronx. The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on January 18, 2023 under job number X00805009. It calls for the construction of a 15-story building. The project is described in the filing as: New building filed to construct a new 15-story mixed use building with community facility, residential and commercial uses. The architect is GF55 Partners.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 212 feet and is 88 feet deep with a total lot size of 18,874 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C4-4D which allows for up to 3.4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 6.02 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $856,000. The most recent loan totaled $12.5 million and was provided by Signature Bank on April 20, 2021.

Prior sales and revenue

This property was sold by Richard Pogostin for $13.9 million to Atlantic Development Group on April 20, 2021.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received $600 in OATH penalties in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

The neighborhood

In Morris Heights, The majority, or 70 percent of the 15.2 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, Morris Heights has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $173.6 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 6th highest in Bronx. For development, Morris Heights has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 3rd highest in Bronx. It had 1.5 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 10 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the eight commercial properties representing 377,289 square feet of the 386,805 square feet. The largest owner is Atlantic Development Group, followed by Belmont Arthur Avenue Local Development Corporation and then NYC Department Of Education. On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 243,007 square feet. It is a 333-unit, 243,007 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Peter Fine with plans filed January 18, 2023 and it has not been permitted yet.

The owner

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Atlantic Development Group owned at least 56 commercial properties with 4,461 residential units in New York City with 4,882,566 square feet and a city-determined market value of $272.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $640.1 million in debt, with top three lenders as JLL, Signature Bank, and M&T Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 96 percent of the 4,882,566 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with specialty properties next occupying 2 percent of the space. The bulk, or 88 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Manhattan next at 10 percent of the space.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 1961 Jerome Avenue, PincusCo identified five commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those five items, one was in new building development. It was a new building permit application filed on October 8, 2021 for a 67,220-square-foot educational (E) building at 1956 Jerome Avenue. Of those five items, three were sales above $5 million totaling $17.9 million. The most recent of the three was Steven Chera which bought the 5,852-square-foot, one-unit industrial (G2) on 1940 Jerome Avenue and one other property for $5.5 million from Son Dinh Tran on January 20, 2022. One of those five items was a loan which Steven Chera and Vaya Development borrowed $7.8 million from Enterprise Community Partners secured by the 5,852-square-foot, one-unit industrial (G2) on 1940 Jerome Avenue and one other property on August 23, 2022.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.