EducationRE pays $93.9M to Starwood for charter school building in Longwood

EducationRE, in a transaction involving Zeta Charter Schools, through the entity Ere425, LLC paid $93.9 million to Starwood Capital Group through the entity 425 Westchester Fee Owner, L.L.C. for two school condominium units at 425 Westchester Avenue in Longwood, Bronx. Simultaneously, EducationRE as landlord signed a ground lease with Zeta Charter Schools to occupy the two condominium units. There are three condo units in the building. The third unit is retail and Starwood owns it.
The deal closed on October 15, 2025 and was recorded on November 12, 2025. The two properties have 132,993 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $706 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 Starwood Capital Group was Dan Schwaegler . The signatory for EducationRE and Zeta Charter Schools was Jorge Perez and Keri Hoyt. The contract date was September 3, 2024. “Founded in 2009 as a Florida-based nonprofit organization, ERE’s hands-on, diverse Board of Directors consists of developers, financiers, professors and lawyers supporting charter and independent private schools nationwide with design, technology, legal services and capital in order to build sustainable and efficient school campuses. ”

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer EducationRE had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Starwood Capital Group purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $3 million and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $233.8 million over the same time period.

The property

The specialty condos in Longwood have 132,993 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has a total lot size of 97,381 square feet. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $29.6 million.

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 not received any significant violations 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 Longwood, The bulk, or 44 percent of the 22.3 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space. In sales, Longwood has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $97.6 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Longwood has 2.3 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 3rd highest in Bronx. It had 3.4 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 15 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 425 Westchester Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the 22 commercial properties representing 273,269 square feet of the 469,711 square feet. The largest owner is A&H Acquisitions, followed by Starwood Capital Group and then Wharton Properties.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 124,249 square feet. It is a 124,249 square-foot educational (E) building submitted by AB Capstone and filed by Meir Babaev with plans filed January 7, 2019 and permitted December 11, 2020.

The majority, or 48 percent of the 469,711 square feet of built space are retail buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 31 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Starwood Capital Group owned at least four commercial properties with three residential units in New York City with 307,693 square feet and a city-determined market value of $105.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $284 million in debt, with top three lenders as Barclays, Empire State Development, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 48 percent of the 307,693 square feet of built space are hotel properties, with specialty properties next occupying 48 percent of the space. The bulk, or 49 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Bronx next at 48 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Zeta Charter Schools owned at least two commercial properties in New York City with 9,800 square feet and a city-determined market value of $1.5 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $62 million in debt, borrowed from Build NYC Resource Corporation. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 100 percent of the 9,800 square feet of built space are industrial properties, with specialty properties next occupying 0 percent of the space. They are all located in Bronx.

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