Falack family signs $24.7M refi with OceanFirst for retail in Fordham Manor

The Falack family that owns Cookie’s Department Store through the entity Queen Webster LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender OceanFirst Bank valued at $24.7 million for three properties including the retail building (K3) at 2551 Webster Avenue in Fordham Manor, Bronx, mixed-use building (K3) at 2543 Webster Avenue in Fordham Manor, Bronx, and retail building (K3) at 2549 Webster Avenue in Fordham Manor, Bronx.
The deal closed on June 22, 2022 and was recorded on July 7, 2022. The prior lender was Wells Fargo which held debt that had an original loan amount of $22 million.The three properties have 37,287 square feet of built space and 20,573 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 57,857 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $662 and the price per buildable square foot is $426 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 Cookie’s Department Store was Samuel Falack. The signatory for OceanFirst Bank was Ann Marie Sorena.

Because multiple properties have been transacted, some of the following sections will follow the property with the largest assessed value, which in this case, is the property on 2551 Webster Avenue.

Prior sales and revenue

The three properties with a total of 37,287 square feet of built space generated revenue of $2.6 million per year or $71 per square foot.

The property

The 2551 Webster Avenue parcel has frontage of 125 feet and is 95 feet deep with a total lot size of 11,000 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C4-4 which allows for up to 3.4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 3.44 times FAR for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $8.4 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $1,250 in ECB penalties and $13,665 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 $5 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Fordham Manor, the bulk, or 33 percent of the 20.4 million square feet of commercial built space are residential elevator buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 31 percent of the space. In sales, Fordham Manor has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $164.9 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Fordham Manor has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 8th highest in Bronx. It had 1.1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 5 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 2551 Webster Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the 20 commercial properties representing 90,973 square feet of the 283,480 square feet. The largest owner is Jem Realty Management, followed by Paul Gagliardi and then Alexis M. Baez. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 58 percent of the 283,480 square feet of built space are residential walkup buildings, with retail buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Cookie’s Department Store owned at least three commercial properties with 37,287 square feet and a city-determined market value of $13.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $24.7 million in debt, borrowed from OceanFirst Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 70 percent of the 37,287 square feet of built space are retail properties, with mixed-use properties next occupying 30 percent of the space. They are all located in Bronx.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 2551 Webster Avenue, PincusCo identified four commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those four items, two were sales above $5 million totaling $32.5 million. The most recent of the two was Paul Gagliardi which bought the 10,492-square-foot, 10-unit mixed-use building (K2) on 2535 Webster Avenue for $13.8 million from Trans World Equities on January 7, 2022.
Of those four items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $23.1 million. The most recent of the two was Paul Gagliardi which borrowed $10 million from Ponce Bank secured by the 10,492-square-foot, 10-unit mixed-use building (K2) on 2535 Webster Avenue on January 7, 2022.

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