Billionaire Pears brothers pay $54.5M to Pinnacle for 315 unsold condos in Harlem, Washington Hts.

The William Pears Group through the entity Jober Upper Riverside LLC paid $54.5 million to the Pinnacle Group for 315 unsold free market and rent regulated condominium units in 13 buildings in Harlem and Washington Heights, Manhattan. The buyer is an affiliate of the billionaire Pears brothers who also buy in New York City under the name Tremada, which is a name created from the first names of the brothers, Trevor, Martin and David. PincusCo was the first news outlet to report on the Pears brothers holdings in New York City.

The sales closed on March 31, 2023 and were recorded on April 12, 2023. The package included a total of 315 units in the buildings along Riverside Drive with the addresses 660 Riverside Drive, 668 Riverside Drive, 680 Riverside Drive, 690 Riverside Drive, 700 Riverside Drive, 725 Riverside Drive, 750 Riverside Drive, 775 Riverside Drive, 156-08 Riverside Drive, 801 Riverside Drive, 807 Riverside Drive, 812 Riverside Drive and 835 Riverside Drive.

The 315 properties have 287,737 square feet of built space according to marketing material.
The signatory for Pinnacle Group was Joel Wiener. The signatory for William Pears Group was Stuart Berg. The buyer is an affiliate of the billionaire Pears Brothers of the United Kingdom. The buyer is in care of the management company MD Squared Property Group.

The sale was brokered by Mark Zborovsky LLC, a broker who specializes in bulk condo and cooperative sales. He declined to comment.

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 775 Riverside Drive.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer William Pears Group had purchased $47.4 million in unsold condos and co-ops over the past 24 months.
The seller Pinnacle Group had not purchased any other properties and sold 204 properties in three transactions for a total of $87.2 million over the same time period.

The property

The property in Washington Heights has 49,755 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has a total lot size of 7,260 square feet. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $919,423.

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 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. On the tax lot, the most recent condominium plan was filed by 775 REALTY CO. LLC AND 156-08 REALTY CO. LLC to create 133 residential units in a building at 773 Riverside Drive in Washington Heights, Manhattan, called John James Condominium that has a $75.9 million sellout, according to an December 30, 2013 submission to the New York State Attorney General. The principals of the sponsor, 775 REALTY CO. LLC AND 156-08 REALTY CO. LLC, were Joel Wiener and Sherry Wiener.

The block

On the tax block of 775 Riverside Drive, PincusCo has identified the owners of 11 of the 20 commercial properties representing 516,357 square feet of the 728,301 square feet. The largest owner is Yecheskel Eisenbach, followed by Talpion Fund Management and then SDG Management.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 118,559 square feet. It is a 120-unit, 118,559 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Artifact Real Estate Development Company and filed by Javier Martinez with plans filed November 11, 2021 and permitted June 8, 2022.

The majority, or 87 percent of the 728,301 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 6 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Pinnacle Group owned at least 136 commercial properties with 8,327 residential units in New York City with 7,559,799 square feet. The portfolio has $921.8 million in debt, with top three lenders as New York Community Bank, Tel Aviv Stock Exchange bondholders, and Axos Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 76 percent of the 7,559,799 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 23 percent of the space. The bulk, or 37 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 23 percent of the space.

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