City Urban Realty pays $40M to Ohebshaloms for 88-unit rental in Lincoln Square

City Urban Realty through the entity 110 Liberty Associates LLC paid $40 million to Empire Management and Gatsby Enterprises through the entity 72nd Street Holding LLC for the 88-unit residential elevator building (D6) at 244 West 72nd Street in Lincoln Square, Manhattan. The expected use is cash flowing.
The deal closed on February 20, 2025 and was recorded on March 6, 2025. The property has 87,150 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $458 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 signatories for Empire Management and Gatsby Enterprises were Fred Ohebshalom , Lisa Ohebshalom , and Amy Shalom. The signatory for City Urban Realty was Michael Alvandi . The contract date was November 22, 2024.

The purchase was financed with a $31.7 million loan from Israel Discount Bank.

The building was subject to a pre-foreclosure action last year related to a $13.5 million loan that was in a maturity default, but that case was dropped after Derby Copeland Capital provided a $15 million refinance.

The Commercial Observer reported on the purchase last month.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer City Urban Realty purchased three properties in three transactions for a total of $17.6 million and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $6.2 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Empire Management purchased three properties in one transaction for a total of $76.4 million and sold seven properties in five transactions for a total of $129 million over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Ramin Shalom, head officer and Fred Ohebshalom, officer. The business entity is Shalco Properties, Llc. The 87,150-square-foot property generated revenue of $3.5 million or $40 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The residential elevator building with 88 residential units in Lincoln Square has 87,150 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 60 feet and is 102 feet deep with a total lot size of 6,130 square feet. The zoning is C4-6A which allows for up to 3.4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The property is in the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $17 million. The most recent loan totaled $15 million and was provided by Derby Copeland Capital on July 26, 2024. The property has 11 rent regulated units according to city tax records from 2023.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was involved in one lawsuit and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The suit was a $13.5 million commercial foreclosure concerning a loan filed on May 30, 2024, by Fannie Mae against Empire Management and Fred Ohebshalom. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received two DOB violations, $312 in ECB penalties, 23 housing violations, and $2,612 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 23 commercial properties representing 267,825 square feet of the 397,218 square feet. The largest owner is Dominique Olbert, followed by Keystone Management and then Brusco Group.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 35,764 square feet. The largest is a 19-unit, 30,504 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by SK Development and filed by Scott Shnay with plans filed December 7, 2017 and permitted August 6, 2019. The second largest is a two-unit, 5,260 square-foot residential (R-3) building submitted by Mary Margaret Chan with plans filed November 19, 2020 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 64 percent of the 397,218 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 24 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Gatsby Enterprises owned at least 35 commercial properties with 1,113 residential units in New York City with 796,625 square feet and a city-determined market value of $239.5 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $232.2 million in debt, with top three lenders as Capital One, Dime Community Bank, and Citibank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 52 percent of the 796,625 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 40 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Empire Management owned at least 25 commercial properties with 1,107 residential units in New York City with 1,303,383 square feet and a city-determined market value of $256 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $336.2 million in debt, with top three lenders as Barclays, Santander Bank, and New York Community Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 83 percent of the 1,303,383 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with H1 properties next occupying 10 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that City Urban Realty owned at least nine commercial properties with 87 residential units in New York City with 71,325 square feet and a city-determined market value of $19 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $56 million in debt, with top three lenders as Calmwater Capital, Northeast Bank, and Signature Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 67 percent of the 71,325 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with mixed-use properties next occupying 19 percent of the space. The bulk, or 54 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 46 percent of the space.

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