Aurora Capital pays $7.5M for retail in Meatpacking, down from $19.5M in 2016

Bobby Cayre’s Aurora Capital Associates through the entity 34 Gansevoort Partners LLC paid $7.5 million to Arizona State Retirement System through the entity Cholla 34 LLC for the mixed-use retail building (K4) at 34 Gansevoort Street on the border of the Meatpacking District and the West Village, Manhattan. The expected use is cash flowing.

An affiliate of L3 Capital bought it from the Sitt family for $19.5 million in 2016. The transfer documents said the L3 Capital entity was no longer active, and the seller was the Arizona State Retirement System.
The deal closed on September 26, 2024 and was recorded on September 30, 2024. The property has 8,195 square feet of built space and 2,845 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 11,030 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $915 and the price per buildable square foot is $679 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 Arizona State Retirement System was Maria G. Breland and Nvard Hovsepian. The signatory for Aurora Capital Associates was Robert Cayre. The contract date was May 10, 2024.

Aurora said in a statement, “Aurora believes 34 Gansevoort will ultimately house a luxury brand that desires a great position in the neighborhood and can utilize the 11,000 sf that the boutique commercial townhome contains. The property sits on Gansevoort Plaza, steps away from Hermes, Loro Piana, Pastis, Audemars Piguet, RH and several other global luxury brands.”

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Aurora Capital Associates purchased two properties in one transaction for a total of $46 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Arizona State Retirement System had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The mixed-use building in West Village has 8,195 square feet of built space and 2,845 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 11,030 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 88 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,206 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-5 which allows for up to 5 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The property is in the Gansevoort Market Historic District. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $4.7 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 not received any significant violations in the last year.

Development

On the lot, there is one active major alteration construction project, M07999146, for a building. The project was submitted by Debashis Chanda with plans filed July 17, 2023 and it has not been permitted yet.

The neighborhood

In West Village, The bulk, or 31 percent of the 10.6 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space. In sales, West Village has 2.9 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $722.4 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 12th highest in Manhattan. For development, West Village has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 27th highest in Manhattan. It had 1.1 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 one of the 10 commercial properties representing 47,800 square feet of the 281,570 square feet. The identified owner is Gerald Sussman.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 85 percent of the 281,570 square feet of built space are office buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 10 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Aurora Capital Associates owned at least 24 commercial properties with 144 residential units in New York City with 1,497,095 square feet and a city-determined market value of $449.2 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 38 percent of the 1,497,095 square feet of built space are retail properties, with office properties next occupying 25 percent of the space. The bulk, or 53 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 38 percent of the space.

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