Briarwood Organization signs contract for East Harlem dev site

Developer Briarwood Organization through the entity 200 East 127th Street Developers LLC signed a contract to pay an undisclosed amount to the United Moravian Church for the specialty building (M1) at 200 East 127th Street in East Harlem, Manhattan. The expected use is ground up development. The sale price and the closing date were not disclosed in the memorandum of contract.
The contract was signed on October 8, 2024 and was recorded on December 17, 2024. The property has 18,022 square feet of built space and 79,690 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 97,760 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data.
The signatory for United Moravian Church was Whitfield Nicholas. The signatory for Briarwood Organization was James Riso.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Briarwood Organization had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller United Moravian Church had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The specialty building in East Harlem has 18,022 square feet of built space and 79,690 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 97,760 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 130 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 13,000 square feet. The zoning is C6-3 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 $5 million.

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 $2,050 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 East Harlem, The majority, or 51 percent of the 52.4 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, East Harlem has 2 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $520.3 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 19th highest in Manhattan. For development, East Harlem has 2 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 16th highest in Manhattan. It had 2.1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 4 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the five commercial properties representing 139,333 square feet of the 153,583 square feet. The two identified owners are New York Proton Center and Nyc Department Of Housing Preservation And Development.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 91 percent of the 153,583 square feet of built space are specialty buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 9 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Briarwood Organization owned at least 10 commercial properties with 564 residential units in New York City with 425,981 square feet and a city-determined market value of $46.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $79.9 million in debt, with top three lenders as Northmarq Capital, JPMorgan Chase, and Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 100 percent of the 425,981 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with development properties next occupying 0 percent of the space. The bulk, or 93 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Manhattan next at 7 percent of the space.

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