Coombes Property Group signs $9.2M refi in Carnegie Hill, lender’s second NYC loan in 20 years

The Australian company Coombes Property Group through the entity 1256 Lexington Ave LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia valued at $9.2 million for three mixed-use properties with 10 residential units including the four-unit mixed-use building (S9) at 1260 Lexington Avenue, the three-unit mixed-use building (S3) at 1256 Lexington Avenue, and three-unit mixed-use building (S3) at 1258 Lexington Avenue in Carnegie Hill, Manhattan.

This is only the second loan Commonwealth Bank of Australia, also known as CommBank, has made in New York City, according to a PincusCo review of city records. In the earlier loan, provided in 2003, CommBank gave $4.9 million to Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch, for the purchase of 11 Spring Street.

The deal closed on December 21, 2023 and was recorded on January 11, 2024. The prior lender was a Phillips Nizer-registered entity which held debt that had an original loan amount of $9.2 million.

Coombes Property Group bought the buildings in December 2022 for $13.1 million.
The three properties have 14,632 square feet of built space and 22,911 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 37,548 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $628 and the price per buildable square foot is $245 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.)
Commonwealth Bank of Australia is also known as CommBank. Traded NY identified the buyer as Coombes Properties Inc. which has an address with Peter Coombes’s company Coombes Property Group.

The property

The mixed-use building with 4 residential units in Carnegie Hill has 14,632 square feet of built space and 22,911 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 37,548 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 22 feet and is 67 feet deep with a total lot size of 1,488 square feet. The zoning is C1-8X which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 9 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $4.6 million. The most recent loan totaled $9.2 million and was provided by 1256-1260 Lex Lender, LLC on December 9, 2022.

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 14 DOB violations and $1,500 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 Carnegie Hill, The majority, or 56 percent of the 13.5 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space. In sales, Carnegie Hill has 2.8 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $876.8 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 14th highest in Manhattan. For development, Carnegie Hill has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 789,049 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 6 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other mixed-use buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On the tax block of 1260 Lexington Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of 11 of the 25 commercial properties representing 173,272 square feet of the 374,167 square feet. The largest owner is Richard Rubel, followed by Parkoff Organization and then Leonard Zangas.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 35 percent of the 374,167 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 22 percent of the space.

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