Brooklyn church pays $5.1M to Roman Catholic Church in Bronx

A Brooklyn-based church, Mission for Today Holy Tabernacle, paid $5.1 million to the Roman Catholic Church of Saint Frances of Rome for the church property (M1) at 659 East 239th Street in Wakefield, Bronx. The parcel covers the entire block front of 239th Street.
The deal closed on May 4, 2023 and was recorded on May 10, 2023. The property has 105,000 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $48 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 Roman Catholic Church of Saint Frances of Rome was Georginus Ejiofor Ugwu. The signatory for Mission for Today Holy Tabernacle was Oliver Dowling. The contract date was November 24, 2021. The church according to several online source is led by Overseer Eunice Williams-Dowling and Co-pastor Oliver Dowling, the signatory.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Mission for Today Holy Tabernacle had purchased any other properties and sold two properties in two transactions for a total of $7.5 million over the past 24 months.

The property

The specialty building in Wakefield has 105,000 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 200 feet and is 350 feet deep with a total lot size of 70,000 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R4A which allows for up to 0.75 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $23.2 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 $300 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On the lot, there is one active major alteration construction project for a four-unit, 12,397 square-foot A-3 building. The project was submitted by Georginus Ugwu with plans filed June 24, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

The neighborhood

In Wakefield, The bulk, or 35 percent of the 9.3 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space. In sales, Wakefield has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $109.6 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Wakefield has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 441,379 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 5 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

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