Civic Builders pays $9.3M to Joseph Riegler for charter school dev site in East Morrisania

Civic Builders and Bold Charter School through the entity Civic Bronx LLC paid $9.3 million to Joseph Riegler through the entity 1472 Boston Partners LLC for the retail building (K2) at 1472 Boston Road in East Morrisania, Bronx. The expected use is ground up development for a new charter school.
On the lot, there is one active new building construction project, X01179407, for a 56,227 square-foot school building. The project was submitted by Civic Builders and filed by Lenny Dymond with plans filed March 18, 2025 and it has not been permitted yet.
At the same time, the developers borrowed $66.7 million for an acquisition and a new construction loan with lenders Build NYC Resource Corporation, the New York City Regional Center and Virginia-based Capital Impact Partners.
The deal closed on May 29, 2025 and was recorded on June 9, 2025. The property has 17,281 square feet of built space and 32,334 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 49,656 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $538 and the price per buildable square foot is $187 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 seller bought the property on June 28, 2021, for $3.5 million. The signatory for Joseph Riegler was Joseph Riegler. The signatory for Civic Builders and Bold Charter School was David Umansky .

For the financing, the signatory for Civic Builders and Bold Charter School was David Umansky . The signatory for Build NYC Resource Corporation , New York City Regional Center , JPMorgan Chase and Capital Impact Partners was Noah Schumer , Dan Hanna , Olivia Pipitone , and George L. Olsen .

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Civic Builders had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Joseph Riegler had not purchased any other properties and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $6 million over the same time period.

The property

The retail building in East Morrisania has 17,281 square feet of built space and 32,334 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 49,656 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 150 feet and is 138 feet deep with a total lot size of 14,435 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 $2.9 million.

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 not received any significant violations in the last year.

The neighborhood

In East Morrisania, The bulk, or 43 percent of the 12 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 30 percent of the space. In sales, East Morrisania has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $106.1 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, East Morrisania has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 5th highest in Bronx. It had 1.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 10 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the 10 commercial properties representing 139,519 square feet of the 173,633 square feet. The largest owner is L+M Development Partners, followed by Joseph Riegler and then David Elvin.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 56,227 square feet. It is a 56,227 square-foot 57 building submitted by Civic Builders and filed by Lenny Dymond with plans filed March 18, 2025 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 45 percent of the 173,633 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 39 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Joseph Riegler owned at least six commercial properties with 79 residential units in New York City with 174,752 square feet and a city-determined market value of $12.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $36.3 million in debt, with top three lenders as Fairview Partners Investment Management, DH1 Holdings, and Local Initiatives Support Corporation respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 32 percent of the 174,752 square feet of built space are industrial properties, with elevator properties next occupying 32 percent of the space. The bulk, or 89 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Brooklyn next at 11 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Civic Builders owned at least five commercial properties in New York City with 48,700 square feet and a city-determined market value of $11 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $55.7 million in debt, with top three lenders as JPMorgan Chase, Dime Community Bank, and Low Income Investment Fund respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 79 percent of the 48,700 square feet of built space are specialty properties, with E1 properties next occupying 11 percent of the space. The bulk, or 77 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Bronx next at 23 percent of the space.

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