Charney Companies signs $49.5M rehab construction loan with Madison in Morningside Heights

Charney Companies through the entity 99 Claremont Owner LLC as borrower signed a rehab construction loan with lender Madison Realty Capital through the entity 99 Claremont Ave 1 LLC valued at $49.5 million for the 44-unit specialty building (W7) at 97 Claremont Avenue in Morningside Heights, Manhattan.
The deal closed on March 18, 2024 and was recorded on March 29, 2024. The property has 78,397 square feet of built space and 8,036 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 86,387 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $631 and the price per buildable square foot is $573 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 owner bought the property on March 18, 2024, for $38 million. The signatory for Charney Companies was Samuel Charney. The signatory for Madison Realty Capital was David Speiser. Madison Realty Capital provided an $8.25 million acquisition loan, and then added $41.25 million renovation construction loan in this transaction.

The property

The specialty building with 44 residential units in Morningside Heights has 78,397 square feet of built space and 8,036 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 86,387 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 225 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 14,350 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R8 which allows for up to 6.02 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $14.1 million. The most recent loan totaled $8.2 million and was provided by Madison Realty Capital on March 18, 2024.

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 one DOB violation 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 Morningside Heights, The bulk, or 45 percent of the 19.1 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 43 percent of the space. In sales, Morningside Heights has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $80.7 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Morningside Heights has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 662,821 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 3 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owner of the one commercial property that spans that spans 78,397 square feet on the block.The identified owner is Charney Companies.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

All properties are specialty.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Charney Companies owned at least 16 commercial properties with 143 residential units in New York City with 221,821 square feet and a city-determined market value of $51 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $65.1 million in debt, with top three lenders as Arbor Realty Trust, Santander Bank, and Madison Realty Capital respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 35 percent of the 221,821 square feet of built space are specialty properties, with elevator properties next occupying 29 percent of the space. The bulk, or 37 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Manhattan next at 35 percent of the space.

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