Bayrock Capital pays $50M to Moinian Group for hotel, dev site near Citi Field

Bayrock Capital paid $50 million to the Moinian Group for a hotel and a development site near Citi Field in North Corona, Queens, in two transactions

In the larger, Bayrock Capital through the entity 3710 Partners LLC paid $42 million to the Moinian Group through the entity Samcom 48 (De) LLC for the hotel (H2) at 37-10 114th Street in North Corona, Queens.
The deal closed on December 29, 2022 and was recorded on January 20, 2023. The property has 118,300 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $355 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 Moinian Group was Joseph Moinian. The signatory for Bayrock Capital was Daniel Cohen. The Real Deal reported on the sale earlier this month.

In the second transaction, Bayrock Capital through the entity 3720 Partners LLC paid $8 million to Moinian Group through the entity Samcom 48 (De) LLC for an adjacent lot (G7) at 37-20 114th Street in North Corona, Queens. The deal closed on December 29, 2022 and was recorded on January 20, 2023.The property has zero square feet of built space and 37,968 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 37,968 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per buildable square foot is $210 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 Moinian Group was Joseph Moinian. The signatory for Bayrock Capital was Daniel Cohen.

Stephen Preuss and Kevin Louie of RIPCO Real Estate were the brokers on the sale to Bayrock on behalf of the Moinian Group, according to The Real Deal.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Bayrock Capital purchased four properties in three transactions for a total of $28.2 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Moinian Group purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $26.6 million and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Aiyun Chen, head officer and Brandon Ward, site manager. The business entity is Samcom 48 De Llc.

The property

The 37-10 114th Street parcel has frontage of 125 feet and is 250 feet deep with a total lot size of 31,250 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 $20.1 million.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was involved in four lawsuits and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The highest value suit was a $8.6 million money judgment concerning a UCC mezzanine filed on November 12, 2021, by Joseph Moinian and Moinian Group against Ai Yun Chen and Wendy Chau. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received six DOB violations, $42,560 in ECB penalties, and $43,260 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $5 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In North Corona, the bulk, or 31 percent of the 5 million square feet of commercial built space are mixed-use buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space. In sales, North Corona has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $106.3 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, North Corona has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 287,351 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 two of the 18 commercial properties representing 142,690 square feet of the 208,289 square feet. The two identified owners are Moinian Group and Lin Long Guang.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 173,574 square feet. It is a 103-unit, 173,574-square-foot R-2 building developed by Ai Chen with plans filed February 16, 2018 and permitted June 2, 2022.

The majority, or 58 percent of the 205,510 square feet of built space are hotel buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 31 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Moinian Group owned at least 14 commercial properties in New York City with 1,916,978 square feet and a city-determined market value of $495.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $955 million in debt, with top three lenders as Bank of China, Deutsche Bank, and AIG respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 46 percent of the 1,916,978 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with office properties next occupying 40 percent of the space. The bulk, or 75 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 19 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Bayrock Capital owned at least nine commercial properties in New York City with 175,638 square feet and a city-determined market value of $46 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $70.4 million in debt, with top three lenders as Merchants Capital, M&T Bank, and TriState Capital Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 57 percent of the 175,638 square feet of built space are hotel properties, with walkup properties next occupying 34 percent of the space. The bulk, or 74 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Bronx next at 13 percent of the space.

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