Elysee Investment pays $8.8M to Alexander Hajibay for five walkups in Washington Heights

Avi Dishi’s Elysee Investment Corp through the entity Ritz Partners LLC paid $8.8 million to Alexander Hajibay’s Heritage Realty through the entity Benton Heights LLC for the 54-unit residential walkup building (C1) at 476 West 165th Street in Washington Heights, Manhattan, 23-unit residential walkup building (C7) at 2153 Amsterdam Avenue in Washington Heights, Manhattan, and 24-unit residential walkup building (C1) at 503 West 164th Street in Washington Heights, Manhattan. The expected use is cash flowing.
The deal closed on April 3, 2025 and was recorded on April 18, 2025. The five properties have 105,937 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $82 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 Heritage Realty was Stephen S. Siminou . The contract date was March 26, 2025. Elysee Investment Corp also uses the names Elysee Investments and Elysee Investment Company.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Elysee Investment Corp purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $5 million and sold six properties in four transactions for a total of $13.3 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Heritage Realty had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Jennifer Brogna, head officer and Leo Marte, site manager. The business entity is Fordwash Partners. The five properties with a total of 105,937 square feet of built space generated revenue of $2 million per year or $19 per square foot. The sale price per square foot was $83.

The property

The residential walkup building with 54 residential units in Washington Heights has 105,937 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 100 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 10,058 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R7-2 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 $2.5 million. The property has 54 rent regulated units according to city tax records from 2023.

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 113 housing violations and $1,100 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 block

On the tax block of 476 West 165th Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of 24 of the 43 commercial properties representing 335,533 square feet of the 564,614 square feet. The largest owner is City Of New York, followed by Scharfman Organization and then New York City Housing Authority.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 65 percent of the 564,614 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Elysee Investment Corp owned at least 16 commercial properties with 287 residential units in New York City with 317,896 square feet and a city-determined market value of $56.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $77 million in debt, with top three lenders as Bank of America, Flushing Bank, and JPMorgan Chase respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 77 percent of the 317,896 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with elevator properties next occupying 21 percent of the space. The bulk, or 98 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 2 percent of the space.

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