Cohabs signs $18.7M loan with Axos Bank for three properties in NYC

Cohabs through the entity 13 Conselyea LLC (and others) as borrower signed an acquisition loan with lender Axos Bank valued at $18.7 million for three properties with five residential units including the specialty building (N2) at 225 Brooklyn Avenue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, three-unit mixed-use building (S3) at 197 Henry Street in Lower East Side, Manhattan, and two-unit 1-4 family building (B1) at 13 Conselyea Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The deal closed on September 25, 2025 and was recorded on October 31, 2025. The three properties have 19,574 square feet of built space and 4,451 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 19,864 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $957 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 signatory for Cohabs was James Grasso .

Violations and lawsuits

The properties were involved in one court case over the past two years. The action was a petition seeking permission to sell the building filed on April 15, 2025, by the Roman Catholic Church of St. Gregory, for $3.8 million, identifying Cohabs as the buyer. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $1,150 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On these lots, there are two active new building construction projects and major alteration projects with initial costs more than $5 million, totaling 11,128 square feet. The largest, B01198058, is a major alteration project for a four-unit, 9,399 square-foot R-2 building submitted by Max Cuttler and filed by Max Cuttler with plans filed June 10, 2025 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest, M01213346, is a major alteration project for a three-unit, 6,643 square-foot RES building submitted by Max Cutler with plans filed July 3, 2025 and it has not been permitted yet.

The neighborhood

In Lower East Side, The majority, or 51 percent of the 23.8 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, Lower East Side has 1.7 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $507.4 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 19th highest in Manhattan. For development, Lower East Side has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 569,679 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 2 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 197 Henry Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of 11 of the 15 commercial properties representing 99,879 square feet of the 133,927 square feet. The largest owner is Hui Zhen Wang, followed by Mike Kui Kam Tong and then Peter Goodman.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 20,457 square feet. It is a 10-unit, 20,457 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Jeffrey Jacobs and filed by Daniel Wise with plans filed October 20, 2015 and permitted April 25, 2017.

The majority, or 46 percent of the 133,927 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 36 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Cohabs owned at least 18 commercial properties with 60 residential units in New York City with 93,062 square feet and a city-determined market value of $24.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $52.4 million in debt, borrowed from Axos Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 46 percent of the 93,062 square feet of built space are C3 properties, with C0 properties next occupying 20 percent of the space. The bulk, or 85 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 15 percent of the space.

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