Chaim Abramson signs $13M refi loan with Signature Bank for four properties in Bronx

Chaim Abramson through the entity 1145 Clay Avenue Realty LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Signature Bank valued at $13 million for four properties including the 38-unit residential walkup building at 50 East 172nd Street in Mt Eden, Bronx, 42-unit residential walkup building at 1145 Clay Avenue in Concourse Village, Bronx, and midblock 27-unit residential walkup building at 452 East 187th Street in Belmont/Little Italy, Bronx.
The deal closed on May 4, 2022 and was recorded on May 20, 2022. The prior lender was ConnectOne which held debt that had an original loan amount of $13 million.The four properties have 86,753 square feet of built space and 9,287 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 89,008 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $149 and the price per buildable square foot is $146 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 Chaim Abramson was Chaim Abramson. The signatory for Signature Bank was Kenneth A. Stagnari.

Because multiple properties have been transacted, some of the following sections will follow the property with the largest assessed value, which in this case, is the property on 1145 Clay Avenue.

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Ismael Ayala, head officer and Jorge Ruiz, site manager. The business entity is 1145 Clay Avenue Realty Llc. Out of the four properties, three with a total of 86,753 square feet of built space generated revenue of $1.6 million per year.

The property

The 1145 Clay Avenue parcel has frontage of 111 feet and is 110 feet deep with a total lot size of 8,270 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R7-1 which allows for up to 3.44 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2.3 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received 165 housing violations, $2,540 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 $5 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Concourse Village, the bulk, or 41 percent of the 22.1 million square feet of commercial built space are residential elevator buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 22 percent of the space. In sales, Concourse Village has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $59.1 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Concourse Village has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 416,198 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 2 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other residential walkup buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On the tax block of 1145 Clay Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the seven commercial properties representing 115,255 square feet of the 270,242 square feet. The two identified owners are Stagg Group and New York City Housing Authority. There are two active new building construction projects totaling 28,719 square feet. The largest is a 20-unit, 16,754-square-foot R-2 building developed by Wole Alege with plans filed September 21, 2016 and it has not been permitted yet.The second largest is a N/A-unit, 11,965-square-foot A-3 building developed by Foday Jaiteh with plans filed December 28, 2010 and permitted July 10, 2012.

the majority, or 73 percent of the 301,566 square feet of built space are residential elevator buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 15 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Chaim Abramson owned at least two commercial properties with 104,800 square feet and a city-determined market value of $4.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $7.6 million in debt, borrowed from Signature Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 69 percent of the 104,800 square feet of built space are residential elevator properties, with residential walkup properties next occupying 31 percent of the space. They are all located in Bronx.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 1145 Clay Avenue, PincusCo identified two commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those two items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $15.5 million. The most recent of the two was Yonasen Lefkowitz which borrowed $8 million from Sterling National Bank secured by the 8,652-square-foot, 11-unit rental (C1) on 1178 Clay Avenue and four other properties on November 30, 2021.

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