Bluejay Management pays $9.7M to R&B Realty Group for office in Flatiron District

Bluejay Management through the entity Bj23 Partners LLC paid $9.7 million to R&B Realty Group through the entity 22 Chelsea Properties, LLC for the office building (O5) at 22 West 23rd Street in Flatiron District, Manhattan.
The deal closed on September 14, 2023 and was recorded on September 28, 2023. The property has 13,125 square feet of built space and 14,516 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 27,650 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $739 and the price per buildable square foot is $351 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 R&B Realty Group was Aron Rosenberg. The signatory for Bluejay Management was Marc Jacobowitz. The contract date was June 29, 2023.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Bluejay Management had purchased any other properties and sold one property in one transactions for a total of $37.1 million over the past 24 months.
The seller R&B Realty Group had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The 13,125-square-foot property generated revenue of $882,053 or $67 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The office building in Flatiron District has 13,125 square feet of built space and 14,516 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 27,650 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 28 feet and is 98 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,765 square feet. The property is in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $4.4 million. The most recent loan totaled $7.5 million and was provided by Emerald Creek Capital on September 1, 2022.

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 $2,000 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 $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Flatiron District, The majority, or 71 percent of the 23.2 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 15 percent of the space. In sales, Flatiron District has the 10th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.5 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Flatiron District has 2.6 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 11th highest in Manhattan. It had 2.5 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 11 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the 18 commercial properties representing 853,682 square feet of the 1,525,774 square feet. The largest owner is Two Trees Management, followed by Torkian Group and then Thor Equities.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 61 percent of the 1.5 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 35 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that R&B Realty Group owned at least two commercial properties in New York City with 23,001 square feet and a city-determined market value of $8.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $59.5 million in debt, borrowed from Lightstone Group and Emerald Creek Capital. Within the portfolio, all identified are office properties. They are all located in Manhattan.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Bluejay Management owned at least three commercial properties with 93 residential units in New York City with 104,001 square feet and a city-determined market value of $19.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $75.8 million in debt, with top three lenders as Cross River Bank, Popular Bank, and Bank of Princeton respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 90 percent of the 104,001 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with M9 properties next occupying 10 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

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