Azimuth in contract to pay $7.5M for Westchester Square dev site, owns adjacent lot

Azimuth Development Group through the entity AP Castle Hill Owner LLC signed a contract to pay $7.5 million to the Crossroads Tabernacle church for the property at 1320-1328 Castle Hill Avenue in Westchester Square, the Bronx. Azimuth already owns the adjacent development site at 2211 Westchester Avenue, which it purchased from Sopher Real Estate for $6.1 million on May 29, 2024.
The contract date was December 12, 2023. The property has 44,235 square feet of buildable space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The contract price per buildable square foot is $170 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 property in Westchester Square has 18,703 square feet of built space and 25,485 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 44,235 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 168 feet and is 104 feet deep with a total lot size of 18,204 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R6 which allows for up to 2.43 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.1 million.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

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

The neighborhood

In Westchester Square, The bulk, or 30 percent of the 5.3 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with office buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space. In sales, Westchester Square has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $48 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 22nd highest in Bronx. For development, Westchester Square has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 30th highest in Bronx. It had 298,219 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 seven commercial properties representing 151,570 square feet of the 161,892 square feet. The largest owners are Azimuth Development Group, Emerald Equity Group and New York City Housing Authority. On the tax block, there were three new building construction projects totaling 195,653 square feet. The largest is a 85-unit, 71,935 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Sopher Management and filed by Barbara Sopher with plans filed February 25, 2019 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 81-unit, 61,859 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Isaac Rosenberg and filed by Isaac Rosenberg with plans filed April 14, 2022 and permitted June 21, 2024.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 1338 Castle Hill Avenue, PincusCo identified six commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those six items, one was in new building development. It was a new building permit issued on June 21, 2024 for a 69,998-square-foot residential (R-2) building with 81 residential units at 2121 Glebe Avenue. Of those six items, two were sales above $5 million totaling $16.1 million. The most recent of the two was Azimuth Development Group which bought the 0-square-foot development site (V1) on 2211 Westchester Avenue for $6.1 million from Sopher Real Estate on May 31, 2024. Of those six items, three were loans above $5 million totaling $46.7 million. The most recent of the three was Anthony J. DeRosa in which borrowed $5.3 million from Anthony J. DeRosa secured by the 0-square-foot, 54-unit rental (D7) on 1353 Castle Hill Avenue on February 15, 2024.

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