Comunilife pays $3.6M for 83-unit dev site in Fordham Heights, gets $51M construction loan

Comunilife through the entity Comunilife Tiebout Housing Development Fund paid $3.6 million to Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center through the entity St. Barnabas Hospital for the parking lot (G6) at 2444 Tiebout Avenue in Fordham Heights, Bronx.
On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a 83-unit, 55,816 square-foot residential (R-2) building. The project was submitted by Comunilife and filed by Michael O’Donnell with plans filed August 30, 2023 and permitted April 22, 2024.

The deal closed on May 3, 2024 and was recorded on May 15, 2024. The property has zero square feet of built space and 39,934 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 39,934 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per buildable square foot is $89 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 Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center was Mary Grochowski. The signatory for Comunilife was Michael O’Donnell. The contract date was April 3, 2024.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Comunilife had purchased any other properties and sold three properties in one transaction for a total of $8 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 92 feet and is 143 feet deep with a total lot size of 11,609 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 $673,000.

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 $2,700 in OATH penalties in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Fordham Heights, The bulk, or 46 percent of the 16.3 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 35 percent of the space. In sales, Fordham Heights has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $100.8 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Fordham Heights has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 722,191 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 4 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the 11 commercial properties representing 335,567 square feet of the 543,059 square feet. The largest owner is Ved Parkash, followed by Stagg Group and then Sharp Management.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 55,816 square feet. It is a 83-unit, 55,816 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Comunilife and filed by Michael O’Donnell with plans filed August 30, 2023 and permitted April 22, 2024.

The majority, or 62 percent of the 543,059 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 38 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Comunilife owned at least three commercial properties with 237 residential units in New York City with 140,194 square feet and a city-determined market value of $15.2 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $105.9 million in debt, with top three lenders as NYS Housing Finance Agency, Webster Bank, and JPMorgan Chase respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 66 percent of the 140,194 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with specialty properties next occupying 34 percent of the space. The bulk, or 66 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Brooklyn next at 34 percent of the space.

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