Bernstein Real Estate signs $23M refi loan with Signature Bank for 55-unit rental in Chelsea

Bernstein Real Estate through the entity 211 Sea Foam Properties, LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Signature Bank valued at $23 million for the 55-unit residential elevator building (D7) at 211 West 29th Street in Chelsea, Manhattan.
The deal closed on August 2, 2022 and was recorded on August 17, 2022. The prior lender was Capital One which held debt that had an original loan amount of $20 million. The property has 54,441 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $422 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 Bernstein Real Estate was Vincent Terranova. The signatory for Signature Bank was Zachary Bermudez.

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Vincent Terranova, head officer and Alex Bernstein, officer. The business entities are Bernstein Real Estate and 211 Sea Foam Properties Llc. The 54,441-square-foot property generated revenue of $2.2 million or $40 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The 211 West 29th Street parcel has frontage of 46 feet and is 98 feet deep with a total lot size of 4,543 square feet. The zoning is M1-6D which allows for up to 10 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $12.9 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received one DOB violation, three housing violations, and $230 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on November 8, 2019. On these lots, there is one active new building construction project for a 55-unit, 54,441-square-foot R-1 building. The project was developed by Alex Bernstein with plans filed April 6, 2016 and permitted December 5, 2017.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of nine of the 34 commercial properties representing 258,918 square feet of the 1,363,871 square feet. The largest owner is Ironstate Development, followed by Himmel + Meringoff Properties and then Arker Companies.

The majority, or 80 percent of the 1.4 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 16 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Bernstein Real Estate owned at least three commercial properties in New York City with 362,438 square feet and a city-determined market value of $57.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $141 million in debt, with top three lenders as Capital One, New York Community Bank, and BankUnited respectively. Within the portfolio, all identified are office properties. They are all located in Manhattan.

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