Empire Hotel Group signs $6.5M refi for retail in Midtown West

Jay Domb’s Empire Hotel Group through the entity 1409 Associates L.L.C. as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Dime Community Bank valued at $6.5 million for the retail building (K2) at 1409 Sixth Avenue in Midtown West, Manhattan.
The deal closed on June 12, 2025 and was recorded on June 16, 2025. The prior lender was Apple Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $7.5 million.The property has 12,250 square feet of built space and 13,054 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 25,300 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $528 and the price per buildable square foot is $255 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 Empire Hotel Group was Jay Domb . The signatory for Dime Community Bank was James Logatto.

Prior sales and revenue

The 12,250-square-foot property generated revenue of $690,174 or $56 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The retail building in Midtown West has 12,250 square feet of built space and 13,054 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 25,300 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,530 square feet. The zoning is C5-3 which allows for up to 15 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 $5.9 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 not received any significant violations in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial renovation certificate of occupancy on March 18, 2016. 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 West, The majority, or 75 percent of the 75.9 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 14 percent of the space. In sales, Midtown West has the 2nd highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $2.7 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Midtown West is the most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 35.2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 46 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the 13 commercial properties representing 423,464 square feet of the 608,474 square feet. The largest owner is Zar Property NY, followed by ABR Investment Partners and then S.W. Management.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 1,555,607 square feet. The largest is a 1,502,992 square-foot business (B) building submitted by Alchemy Properties and filed by Kenneth Horn with plans filed November 13, 2019 and permitted September 14, 2022. The second largest is a 41-unit, 52,615 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Extell Development and filed by Michael Loeb with plans filed November 12, 2015 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 54 percent of the 608,474 square feet of built space are hotel buildings, with office buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Empire Hotel Group owned at least seven commercial properties with 60 residential units in New York City with 732,485 square feet and a city-determined market value of $152.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $77.2 million in debt, with top three lenders as Israel Discount Bank, Apple Bank for Savings, and First Republic Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, all identified are hotel properties. The bulk, or 89 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Bronx next at 11 percent of the space.

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