Church seeks approval to lease Albanese Org. 265K sf Westchester Square dev site valued at $18.55M

The Episcopal Church of St. Peter’s in Westchester Square, the Bronx, filed a petition yesterday in Bronx State Supreme Court seeking authorization to enter into a 99-year ground lease with the Albanese Organization as tenant through its entity 2500 Westchester Ave Bronx LLC for 2500 Westchester Avenue valued at $18.55 million. The developer plans to utilize 265,000 square feet of zoning floor area to construct affordable and supportive housing, according to the petition. The pre-lease agreement values the site at $18.55 million.

Case 808061/2026E LINK

The site consists of most of lot 6 and a much smaller parcel, lot 1, totaling approximately 2.6 acres. Lot 1 currently contains a vacant one-story house, while Lot 6 is a vacant lot. The adjacent Lot 18, which includes the historic Gothic-style church of St. Peter’s, as well as an administrative building, theatre, and cemetery, was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1976 and is not part of the lease site.

Under the terms of an amendment to the pre-lease dated June 30, 2024, the developer has an option to pay a full upfront amount of $92.50 per square foot of zoning floor area at the time the ground lease is executed, equivalent to $24.5 million. If this option is exercised, the obligation for annual base rent is removed. The upfront amount increases to $93.425 per square foot if the closing occurs in the third year after July 1, 2024, and to $94.35 per square foot if it occurs in the fourth year or later. The outside closing date for the transaction is June 30, 2029.

Alternatively, the original consideration terms include a $500,000 down payment followed by an upfront rent payment of $11 million. The base rent for the 99-year term would start at $635,250 annually. The current agreement includes an initial 12-month extension option for $162,000 and six subsequent six-month extensions at $81,000 each. Half of these extension payments will be credited toward the upfront rent.

Proceeds from the transaction will be used to retire debts held by the Diocesan Missionary and Church Extension Society and to fund renovations for the historic site.

The neighborhood

In Westchester Square, The bulk, or 30 percent of the 5.3 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with office buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space. In sales, Westchester Square has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $149.2 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 7th highest in Bronx. For development, Westchester Square has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 35th highest in Bronx. It had 256,026 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.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 2500 Westchester Avenue, PincusCo identified one commercial real estate item of interests occurred over the past 24 months. It was a sale which Essen Health Care bought the 15,200-square-foot, one-unit industrial (G2) on 2472 Butler Place for $5.5 million from Marc H. Shur on July 21, 2025.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.