Comjem Associates signs $10.5M refi loan with Symetra for office in Flatiron District

Comjem Associates through the entity 37 W. 14th St. Associates, LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Symetra Life Insurance Company valued at $10.5 million for the office building (O5) at 37 West 14th Street in Flatiron District, Manhattan.
The deal closed on March 5, 2024 and was recorded on March 21, 2024. The prior lender was JPMorgan Chase which held debt that had an original loan amount of $12 million.
The property has 45,000 square feet of built space and 17,137 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 62,150 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $233 and the price per buildable square foot is $168 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 Comjem Associates was Jack Cohen. The signatory for Symetra Life Insurance Company was Colin M. Elder.

The property

The office building in Flatiron District has 45,000 square feet of built space and 17,137 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 62,150 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 100 feet and is 103 feet deep with a total lot size of 10,324 square feet. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $11.5 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 received two DOB violations and $4,400 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 neighborhood

In Flatiron District, The majority, or 71 percent of the 23.2 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 15 percent of the space. In sales, Flatiron District has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $255.6 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 27th highest in Manhattan. For development, Flatiron District has 2.4 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 12th highest in Manhattan. It had 2.3 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. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other office buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the 15 commercial properties representing 203,024 square feet of the 807,766 square feet. The largest owner is Xiaogang Wang, followed by Sol Goldman Investments and then Roberto Monteleone.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 73,983 square feet. The largest is a 50-unit, 63,248 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Kevin Murray with plans filed February 15, 2019 and permitted March 5, 2020. The second largest is a 30-unit, 10,735 square-foot hotel/dormitory/shelter (R-1) building submitted by Kumar Navnit with plans filed July 28, 2014 and permitted June 27, 2019.

The majority, or 61 percent of the 807,766 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with office buildings next occupying 30 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Comjem Associates owned at least seven commercial properties with 32 residential units in New York City with 99,883 square feet and a city-determined market value of $24.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $59.4 million in debt, borrowed from Signature Bank and Maverick Real Estate Partners. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 47 percent of the 99,883 square feet of built space are office properties, with retail properties next occupying 23 percent of the space. The bulk, or 56 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 24 percent of the space.

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