Bahl family pays $8.4M to Jerrold Blumberg, Wharton Properties for retail in East Harlem

Tara Bahl and Raghav Bahl through the entity Rbd Real Estate LLC paid $8.4 million to Jerrold Blumberg and Wharton Properties through the entity Third Avenue Enterprises, Inc for the retail building (K2) at 1905 Third Avenue in East Harlem, Manhattan.
On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a 18,952 square-foot office (B) building. The project was submitted by Andrew Lester with plans filed January 8, 2020 and it has not been permitted yet.
The deal closed on August 11, 2023 and was recorded on September 18, 2023. The property has 3,941 square feet of built space and 38,628 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 42,593 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $2,131 and the price per buildable square foot is $197 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 Jerrold Blumberg and Wharton Properties was Jerrold Blumberg. The contract date was February 16, 2023. This sale took place through two transactions, one for $2.8 million in which RBD bought out Wharton Properties for an interest, and other other for $5.6 million in which RBD acquired the fee interest. Tara Bahl is the signatory on the loan.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Tara Bahl had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Jerrold Blumberg had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The retail building in East Harlem has 3,941 square feet of built space and 38,628 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 42,593 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 40 feet and is 97 feet deep with a total lot size of 5,664 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R9 which allows for up to 7.52 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2.2 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 $930 in OATH penalties in the last year.

The neighborhood

In East Harlem, The majority, or 51 percent of the 52.3 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, East Harlem has 2 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $707.1 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 20th highest in Manhattan. For development, East Harlem has 2 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 15th highest in Manhattan. It had 2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 4 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 14 of the 27 commercial properties representing 190,322 square feet of the 317,272 square feet. The largest owner is Yakup Imir, followed by William Schneider and then William Guerrero.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 44,428 square feet. The largest is a four-unit, 25,476 square-foot hotel/dormitory/shelter (R-1) building submitted by Christopher Cirillo with plans filed August 11, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 18,952 square-foot business (B) building submitted by Andrew Lester with plans filed January 8, 2020 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 31 percent of the 317,272 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space.

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