Aurora, A&H sign $19.4M refi with Webster Bank for retail in Longwood

Aurora Capital Associates, led by Robert Cayre, and the Adjmi family’s A&H Acquisitions, through the entity CA 2952 Third Avenue LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Webster Bank valued at $19.4 million for the retail building (K3) at 2952 3rd Avenue in Longwood, Bronx.
The deal closed on June 28, 2024 and was recorded on July 5, 2024. The prior lender was Blackstone Group (which acquired the loan through the purchase of former Signature Bank loans) which held debt that had an original loan amount of $20.6 million.

The property has 100,126 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $193 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 Aurora Capital Associates and A&H Acquisitions was Aurora’s Robert Cayre. The signatory for Webster Bank was Adam Brenner.

The property

The retail building in Longwood has 100,126 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 100 feet and is 185 feet deep with a total lot size of 28,250 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C4-4 which allows for up to 3.4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 3.44 times FAR for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $22.1 million.

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 $3,385 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on December 28, 2018. On the lot, there is one active major alteration construction project for a 83,539 square-foot B building. The project was submitted by Alex Adjmi of A&H Acquisitions with plans filed June 10, 2016 and permitted March 7, 2017.

The neighborhood

In Longwood, The bulk, or 44 percent of the 22.3 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space. In sales, Longwood has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $130.8 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Longwood has 1.2 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 4th highest in Bronx. It had 1.4 million 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 five of the 22 commercial properties representing 173,143 square feet of the 469,711 square feet. The largest owner is Wharton Properties, followed by Uzi Shvut and then Raza Development Fund, Inc..
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 124,249 square feet. It is a 124,249 square-foot educational (E) building submitted by AB Capstone and filed by Meir Babaev with plans filed January 7, 2019 and permitted December 11, 2020.

The majority, or 48 percent of the 469,711 square feet of built space are retail buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 31 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Aurora Capital Associates owned at least 23 commercial properties with 127 residential units in New York City with 1,396,969 square feet and a city-determined market value of $427.2 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $545.5 million in debt, with top three lenders as Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, New York Community Bank, and Apollo Global Management respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 34 percent of the 1,396,969 square feet of built space are retail properties, with office properties next occupying 27 percent of the space. The bulk, or 57 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 41 percent of the space.

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