Better Living Properties signs $70M loan with Dime for 31 properties in NYC

Better Living Properties through the entity 1111 Flatbush Realty LLC as borrower signed a loan with lender Dime Community Bank valued at $70 million for 31 properties including the 16-unit property at 2848 Brighton 7th Street in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, 20-unit residential walkup building at 210 Rivington Street in Lower East Side, Manhattan, and midblock 25-unit residential elevator building at 624 East 11th Street in Alphabet City, Manhattan.
The deal closed on June 16, 2022 and was recorded on June 27, 2022. The 31 properties have 137,316 square feet of built space and 40,781 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 151,258 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $509 and the price per buildable square foot is $462 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.)

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 210 Rivington Street.

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Jonathan Soudry, head officer and Sander Bromberg, site manager. The business entity is 210 Rivington Realty Holding Llc. Out of the 31 properties, 13 with a total of 137,316 square feet of built space generated revenue of $6 million per year.

The property

The 210 Rivington Street parcel has frontage of 60 feet and is 50 feet deep with a total lot size of 3,045 square feet. The zoning is R7A which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.9 million.
The 120 Orchard Street parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 88 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,210 square feet. The zoning is C6-2A which allows for up to 6 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 6.02 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.4 million.
The 203 Chrystie Street parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 66 feet deep with a total lot size of 1,667 square feet. The zoning is C6-3A which allows for up to 6 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 7.52 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $3,350 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot buildings, two out of the 31 buildings received an 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 $5 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Lower East Side, the majority, or 60 percent of the 33.2 million square feet of commercial built space are residential elevator buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 15 percent of the space. In sales, Lower East Side has 2.5 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $677.8 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 18th highest in Manhattan. For development, Lower East Side has 2.4 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 9th highest in Manhattan. It had 2.2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 7 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 210 Rivington Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of 16 of the 34 commercial properties representing 213,016 square feet of the 442,683 square feet. The largest owner is Croman Real Estate, followed by Asian Americans for Equality and then Safehold. There are two active new building construction projects totaling 55,744 square feet. The largest is a 37-unit, 39,704-square-foot R-2 building developed by Terrence Lowenberg with plans filed April 9, 2014 and permitted January 13, 2016. The second largest is a 12-unit, 16,040-square-foot R-2 building developed by Michael Bauer with plans filed July 2, 2019 and permitted November 18, 2020.

the majority, or 39 percent of the 576,897 square feet of built space are residential walkup buildings, with residential elevator buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 210 Rivington Street, PincusCo identified four commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those four items, one was in new building development. It was a new building permit issued on August 17, 2021 for a 38,243-square-foot R-2 building with 52 residential units at 63 Pitt Street.
Of those four items, one was for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. It was a permit issued on September 20, 2021 for the $1.4 million renovation of 34,390-square-foot E building with zero residential units at 80 Pitt Street.
One of those four items was a sale which Prosper Property Group bought the 0-square-foot industrial (G7) on 61 Pitt Street for $8.5 million from Paul Stallings on July 13, 2020.
One of those four items was a loan which Peter Zucccarello borrowed $22 million from Parkview Financial secured by the 10,070-square-foot, 16-unit co-op (C6) on 63 Pitt Street and one other property on May 20, 2021.

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