Aulder Capital signs $8.5M refi with Principal for Carnegie Hill walkups acquired in bankruptcy

Aulder Capital through the entity 162-164 East 82nd Apts LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Principal Real Estate Investors through the entity SBAF Mortgage Fund I/Lender, LLC valued at $8.5 million for two residential walkup properties with 37 residential units including the 20-unit residential walkup building (C5) at 164 East 82nd Street in Carnegie Hill, Manhattan and 17-unit residential walkup building (C5) at 162 East 82nd Street in Carnegie Hill, Manhattan.
The deal closed on January 31, 2024 and was recorded on February 1, 2024. The prior lender was Northeast Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $7.2 million.
The two properties have 19,670 square feet of built space and 766 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 20,432 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $432 and the price per buildable square foot is $416 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 signatory for Aulder Capital was John Reid. The signatory for Principal Real Estate Investors was Janet D. Harwood and Robert R. Bailey.

Aulder Capital, the former lender, acquired the properties after the former debtor filed for bankruptcy.

Apparel entrepreneur Ruben Azrak and Patricial Lampl bought the two adjacent buildings at 162-164 East 82nd Street in Carnegie Hill, Manhattan, in June 2017 for $19.7 million, and took out a $10.5 million senior loan and a $1.5 million mezzanine loan at the time from Dime Community Bank.

Both loans had been in default since 2020. Aulder Capital acquired the debt in June 2021 and announced it would hold a UCC auction with a scheduled date in November 2021, which has been adjourned several times as the parties negotiated extensions. Then the debtors filed bankruptcy, according to the petition, and the lender agreed to extend one more time and consent to the bankruptcy filing which will proceed to a sale if the borrower cannot lock in a refinance. Instead of a refinance, Aulder Capital took title to the buildings.

The property

The residential walkup building with 20 residential units in Carnegie Hill has 19,670 square feet of built space and 766 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 20,432 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 102 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,554 square feet. The zoning is R8B which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2.8 million. The most recent loan totaled $7.2 million and was provided by Northeast Bank on July 14, 2023.

Violations and lawsuits

The properties were involved in two bankruptcies over the past two years. The highest value bankruptcy was filed on September 21, 2022, by Ruben Azrak and Patricia G. Lampl citing assets of $12 million. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received one DOB violation, nine housing violations, and $580 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 block

On the tax block of 164 East 82nd Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of 10 of the 24 commercial properties representing 106,331 square feet of the 310,752 square feet. The largest owner is SMA Equities, followed by S.W. Management and then Ronald Cherney.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 34,029 square feet. The largest is a nine-unit, 24,041 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Yaniv Cohen with plans filed April 18, 2013 and permitted January 17, 2017. The second largest is a five-unit, 9,988 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Jong Mok Che with plans filed July 12, 2018 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 51 percent of the 310,752 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 44 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Aulder Capital owned at least four commercial properties with 108 residential units in New York City with 83,722 square feet and a city-determined market value of $17.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $105.9 million in debt, with top three lenders as High End Hospitality Corp., Principal Global Investors, and Greystone & Co. respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 61 percent of the 83,722 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with elevator properties next occupying 39 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

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