Bawabeh Brothers signs $15M refi with Symetra for five properties in NYC

Bawabeh Brothers through the entity 2923 Third Avenue Realty LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Symetra Life Insurance Company valued at $15 million for five properties including the retail at 162 East 116th Street in East Harlem, Manhattan, the retail building (K2) at 2923-2927 3rd Avenue in Melrose, Bronx, the office building (O2) at 918 Seneca Avenue in Ridgewood, Queens, and the retail building (K1) at 1046 Southern Boulevard in Longwood, Bronx.
The deal closed on May 22, 2025 and was recorded on June 12, 2025. The prior lender was Ladder Capital which held debt that had an original loan amount of $13.5 million.The five properties have 40,129 square feet of built space and 74,119 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 113,326 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $373 and the price per buildable square foot is $132 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 Bawabeh Brothers was Ezra Mizrachi . The signatory for Symetra Life Insurance Company was Colin M. Elder .

Because multiple properties have been transacted, some of the following sections will follow the property with the largest assessed value, which in this case, is the property on 162-164 East 116th Street.

Prior sales and revenue

The five properties with a total of 40,129 square feet of built space generated revenue of $2.4 million per year or $59 per square foot.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received one DOB violation and $625 in ECB penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot buildings, one out of the five buildings received a initial certificate of occupancy in the last ten years. 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 East Harlem, The majority, or 51 percent of the 52.4 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 1.9 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $505.4 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 21st highest in Manhattan. For development, East Harlem has 1.8 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 20th highest in Manhattan. It had 2.1 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. There were three pre-foreclosure suit filed among other retail buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On the tax block of 162-164 East 116th Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of 22 of the 50 commercial properties representing 227,177 square feet of the 424,976 square feet. The largest owner is Charles Alpert (271), followed by Bawabeh Brothers and then Mack Real Estate Group.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 46 percent of the 424,976 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Bawabeh Brothers owned at least 36 commercial properties with 120 residential units in New York City with 390,776 square feet and a city-determined market value of $69.5 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $148.3 million in debt, with top three lenders as Signature Bank, Investors Bank, and Webster Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 29 percent of the 390,776 square feet of built space are retail properties, with specialty properties next occupying 22 percent of the space. The bulk, or 85 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Queens next at 8 percent of the space.

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