Cheskel Schwimmer of Chess Builders signs $70M construction loan for 188-unit project in Hell’s Kitchen

Cheskel Schwimmer of Chess Builders through the entity Eleven W46 Realty LLC as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender Valley National Bank through the entity Valley National Bank valued at $70 million for the industrial building (E9) at 616 11th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan.

On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a 188-unit, 127,613 square-foot R-2 building. The project was submitted by Cheskel Schwimmer with plans filed March 22, 2024 and it has not been permitted yet.

The deal closed on March 21, 2024 and was recorded on April 2, 2024. The property has 14,460 square feet of built space and 148,064 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 162,654 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $4,840 and the price per buildable square foot is $430 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 21, 2024, for $33.2 million from Extell Development, Bluestone Group and Princeton Real Estate Partners. The signatory for Cheskel Schwimmer was Cheskel Schwimmer.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 119 feet and is 200 feet deep with a total lot size of 27,019 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 $3.9 million.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was involved in two lawsuits and two bankruptcies over the past two years. The highest value suit was a $100 million money judgment concerning a loan filed on April 14, 2022, by ROBERT M. GANS, RICHARD GANS, and CAREN GANS against Bluestone Group. The highest value bankruptcy was filed on September 14, 2022, by Robert Gans citing assets of $200 million. In addition, according to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Hell’s Kitchen, The bulk, or 39 percent of the 40.6 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space. In sales, Hell’s Kitchen has 2.7 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $748.4 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 13th highest in Manhattan. For development, Hell’s Kitchen is the 8th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 5.4 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 13 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There were two pre-foreclosure suit filed among other industrial buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the 21 commercial properties representing 39,772 square feet of the 238,400 square feet. The largest owner is John Seid, followed by J&L Holding and then Danny Rebibo.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 127,613 square feet. It is a 188-unit, 127,613 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Cheskel Schwimmer with plans filed March 22, 2024 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 35 percent of the 238,400 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Cheskel Schwimmer owned at least 21 commercial properties with 726 residential units in New York City with 756,174 square feet and a city-determined market value of $48.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $416 million in debt, with top three lenders as Valley National Bank, Prime Group Holdings, and IceCap Group respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 56 percent of the 756,174 square feet of built space are D6 properties, with elevator properties next occupying 25 percent of the space. The bulk, or 56 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Brooklyn next at 42 percent of the space.

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