Barone Management signs $8.1M construction loan for charter school in Melrose

Barone Management through the entity BM Courtlandt Developer LLC as borrower signed a renovation construction loan with lender Low Income Investment Fund valued at $8.1 million for the specialty building (I5) at 629 Courtlandt Avenue in Melrose, Bronx.
The deal closed on June 23, 2023 and was recorded on August 16, 2023. The property has 24,248 square feet of built space and 2,064 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 26,309 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $334 and the price per buildable square foot is $307 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 Barone Management was John Silviano. This is for the Bronx Charter School for Children.

The property

The specialty building in Melrose has 24,248 square feet of built space and 2,064 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 26,309 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 76 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 7,648 square feet. The zoning is R7-1 which allows for up to 3.44 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.2 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 not received any significant violations 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 neighborhood

In Melrose, The majority, or 57 percent of the 8 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 17 percent of the space. In sales, Melrose has the 22nd highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in Bronx with $68.4 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Melrose has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 384,856 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 5 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the 23 commercial properties representing 591,188 square feet of the 717,084 square feet. The largest owner is Nyc Department Of Education, followed by Lemle & Wolff and then City Of New York.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 8,260 square feet. It is a 8,260 square-foot business (B) building submitted by David Manesh with plans filed September 23, 2011 and permitted April 17, 2015.

The majority, or 79 percent of the 717,084 square feet of built space are specialty buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 14 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Barone Management owned at least 10 commercial properties with 33 residential units in New York City with 298,057 square feet and a city-determined market value of $39.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $101.1 million in debt, with top three lenders as Metropolitan Commercial Bank, Berkshire Group, and Fieldpoint Private Bank & Trust respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 39 percent of the 298,057 square feet of built space are specialty properties, with office properties next occupying 34 percent of the space. The bulk, or 69 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Bronx next at 22 percent of the space.

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