Continuum Company pays $66.2M to church for dev site in Grand Central, gets $180M loan

Ian Bruce Eichner’s Continuum Company through the entity 26 East 35th Street LLC paid $66.2 million to the Community Church of New York through the entity The Community Church Of New York for the specialty building (M1) at 34 East 35th Street in Grand Central, Manhattan, nine-unit residential walkup building (C5) at 32 East 35th Street in Grand Central, Manhattan, and nine-unit residential walkup building (C5) at 30 East 35th Street in Grand Central, Manhattan. The expected use is ground up development.
On these lots, there is one active new building construction project, M01062289, for a 137-unit, 172,797 square-foot R-2 building. The project was submitted by Continuum Company and filed by Jeff Loveland with plans filed June 13, 2024 and it has not been permitted yet.
The deal closed on October 28, 2024 and was recorded on November 15, 2024. The five properties have 46,903 square feet of built space and 111,879 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 158,769 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,411 and the price per buildable square foot is $417 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 Community Church of New York was Jonathan Birchall. The signatory for Continuum Company was Ian Bruce Eichner. The contract date was October 20, 2021. Continuum Company filed plans for 137-unit condo building.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Continuum Company had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Community Church of New York had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $25,655 in ECB penalties and $31,055 in OATH penalties in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Grand Central, The majority, or 83 percent of the 44.4 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space. In sales, Grand Central has 3.6 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $917.7 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 9th highest in Manhattan. For development, Grand Central is the 8th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 5.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 12 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 34 East 35th Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the 10 commercial properties representing 197,657 square feet of the 278,829 square feet. The largest owner is Elynn Lerner, followed by Hilson Management Corp. and then Community Church Of New York.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 172,797 square feet. It is a 137-unit, 172,797 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Continuum Company and filed by Jeff Loveland with plans filed June 13, 2024 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 44 percent of the 278,829 square feet of built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 38 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Community Church Of New York owned at least one commercial property with two residential units in New York City with 5,957 square feet and a city-determined market value of $6.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio consists of at least a single mixed-use property. It is located in Manhattan.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Continuum Company owned at least one commercial property with 10 residential units in New York City with 6,625 square feet and a city-determined market value of $2.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio consists of at least a single walkup property. It is located in Brooklyn.

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