Black Spruce sells 81-unit UWS rental for $54.5M
An unknown buyer at the Law Offices of Zev Brachfeld through the entity 215 West 101 LLC paid $54.5 million to Black Spruce Management through the entity W101 LLC for the 81-unit residential elevator building (D6) at 215 W 101st St in Upper West Side, Manhattan.
The deal closed on May 18, 2023 and was recorded on June 26, 2023. The property has 95,400 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $571 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 seller bought the property on November 3, 2021, for $36 million. The signatory for Black Spruce Management was Josh Gotlib. The signatory for the buyer was Zev Brachfeld.
Prior sales and revenue
The seller Black Spruce Management purchased 21 properties in 16 transactions for a total of $2.7 billion over the past 24 months. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Joshua Gotlib, head officer and Naftoli Leiner, agent. The business entities are Nieuw Amsterdam Property Management and W101 Llc. The 95,400-square-foot property generated revenue of $2 million or $21 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.
The property
The residential elevator building with 81 residential units in Upper West Side has 95,400 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 126 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 12,683 square feet. The zoning is R9A which allows for up to 7.52 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $6.4 million. The most recent loan totaled $36 million and was provided by New York Community Bank on November 3, 2021.
Violations and lawsuits
There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $7,360 in ECB penalties, 12 housing violations, $10,090 in OATH penalties, and one housing litigation 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.
The block
On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of eight of the 25 commercial properties representing 293,316 square feet of the 574,849 square feet. The largest owner is Shulem Herman, followed by New York City Housing Authority and then Kazuhiko Kyogoku.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.
The majority, or 66 percent of the 574,849 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 19 percent of the space.
The seller
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Black Spruce Management owned at least 147 commercial properties with 4,922 residential units in New York City with 5,111,389 square feet and a city-determined market value of $1.2 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $434.7 million in debt, with top three lenders as Signature Bank, Amerant Bank, and New York Community Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 75 percent of the 5,111,389 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 24 percent of the space. The bulk, or 87 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Queens next at 10 percent of the space.
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