CSC Real Estate pays $10M to Cerco Funding for office in Midtown East
136 East 57th Street (Credit - Cyclomedia)
The Smeke family’s CSC Real Estate through the entity 136 Prop Co LLC paid $10 million to Cerco Funding through the entity Lex57 LLC for the ground lease covering the office building (O4) at 136 East 57th Street in Midtown East, Manhattan. At the same time, CSC Real Estate obtained the fee in a no-consideration transfer from Silk & Halpern, which was the original fee owner and landlord under the ground lease that CSC purchased.
The deal closed on February 20, 2026 and was recorded on March 6, 2026. The property has 102,917 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $97 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 Cerco Funding was Michael Bodnev . The signatory for CSC Real Estate was Alberto Smeke Saba . The contract date was February 20, 2026.
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Prior sales, articles and revenue
Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer CSC Real Estate purchased three properties in three transactions for a total of $97.2 million and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $5.3 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Cerco Funding purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $8.6 million and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The 102,917-square-foot property generated revenue of $5.7 million or $55 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.
The property
The office building in Midtown East has 102,917 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 50 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 5,041 square feet. The zoning is C5-2 which allows for up to 10 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $26.3 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 $1,000 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 Midtown East, The majority, or 81 percent of the 62.6 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 7 percent of the space. In sales, Midtown East has the highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $4.7 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Midtown East is the 4th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 18.1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 29 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There were 20 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 19 of the 33 commercial properties representing 510,456 square feet of the 1,767,140 square feet. The largest owner is Spitzer, followed by Apple Hotel Reit and then Bldg Management.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 285,185 square feet. The largest is a 145-unit, 174,532 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Rony Attia with plans filed August 20, 2021 and permitted December 29, 2022. The second largest is a 151-unit, 110,653 square-foot institutional (I-2) building submitted by Hines and filed by Sarah Hawkins with plans filed March 2, 2017 and permitted June 5, 2018.
The majority, or 49 percent of the 1.8 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 24 percent of the space.
The seller
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Cerco Funding owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 85,449 square feet and a city-determined market value of $23.2 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio consists of at least a single office property. It is located in Manhattan.
The buyer
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Csc Real Estate owned at least three commercial properties in New York City with 362,913 square feet and a city-determined market value of $81.5 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 100 percent of the 362,913 square feet of built space are office properties, with industrial properties next occupying 0 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.
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