Carolwood, Empire Capital, partners, acquire SoHo office in $36M deed-in-lieu

Empire Capital Holdings, Carolwood, Jeremy Aiden, and an affiliate of Husein Jafferjee through the entity 1-21 Howard Aidan TIC LLC (and others) acquired through a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure valued at $36 million, to HCRE Hung & Chong Real Estate through the entity 267 Canal Street Corp. for the office building (O5) at 261-267 Canal Street in Little Italy, Manhattan.
The deal closed on May 4, 2026 and was recorded on May 14, 2026. The property has 103,047 square feet of built space and 58,552 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 161,649 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $349 and the price per buildable square foot is $222 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 HCRE Hung & Chong Real Estate was Philip Chong . The signatory for Empire Capital Holdings , Carolwood , Jeremy Aiden, and Husein Jafferjee was Abraham Khalili , Jeremy Aidan, Adam Rubin, and Husein Jafferjee. The contract date was April 27, 2026.

Empire Capital Holdings has 17.26%; Carolwood has 37%: the entity CANNON HOWARD RE PARTNERS LLC has 37% and was signed by Husein Jafferjee, who is a member of TWP Clothing, which operates a store at this property with the address 23 Howard Street; and about 8% for Jeremy Aiden. All the entities have a care of address at 323 N Beverly Drive #202 Beverly Hills, CA 90210, an alternate address for Carolwood Estates, a brokerage which is a partner of Carolwood.

Prior sales, articles and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Empire Capital Holdings purchased three properties in two transactions for a total of $90 million and sold four properties in one transaction for a total of $85 million over the past 24 months.
The seller HCRE Hung & Chong Real Estate had not purchased any other properties and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $4 million over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Philip Chong, head officer and Eric Chong, officer. The business entity is 267 Canal Street Corp. The 103,047-square-foot property generated revenue of $7 million or $68 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The office building with 2 residential units in SoHo has 103,047 square feet of built space and 58,552 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 161,649 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 100 feet and is 212 feet deep with a total lot size of 17,961 square feet. The lot is irregular. The property is in the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District Extension. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $27 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 five DOB violations, $15,030 in ECB penalties, and $15,130 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 block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 10 of the 17 commercial properties representing 374,351 square feet of the 437,802 square feet. The largest owner is RFR Holding, followed by HCRE Hung & Chong Real Estate and then Chetrit Organization.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 191,280 square feet. The largest is a 100-unit, 96,427 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by United American Land and filed by Casey Martinez with plans filed February 9, 2023 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 105-unit, 94,853 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Stellar Management and filed by Lyle Kamesaki with plans filed October 31, 2022 and permitted April 2, 2026.

The majority, or 44 percent of the 437,802 square feet of built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that HCRE Hung & Chong Real Estate owned at least four commercial properties with 17 residential units in New York City with 167,077 square feet and a PincusCo-determined asset value of $207.1 million. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 61 percent of the 167,077 square feet of built space are office properties, with condo properties next occupying 38 percent of the space. The bulk, or 76 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Queens next at 23 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Empire Capital Holdings owned at least 10 commercial properties with 162 residential units in New York City with 1,416,868 square feet and a PincusCo-determined asset value of $767.7 million. The portfolio has $46.2 million in debt, with top three lenders as Alma Bank, Thorofare Capital, and Hakimian Partners respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 75 percent of the 1,416,868 square feet of built space are office properties, with condo properties next occupying 10 percent of the space. The bulk, or 98 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 1 percent of the space.

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