Fine Times signs $17.5M refi loan with Citibank for four properties in NYC

Fine Times through the entity 110 West 69th Street ,LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Citibank through the entity Citi Real Estate Funding Inc valued at $17.5 million for four properties including the midblock 36-unit residential elevator building at 110 West 69th Street in Lincoln Square, Manhattan, 18-unit residential elevator building at 141 Columbia Heights in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, and midblock nine-unit walkup building at 23 West 70th Street in Lincoln Square, Manhattan.
The deal closed on April 11, 2022 and was recorded on May 23, 2022. The prior lender was New York Community Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $9.8 million. The four properties have 57,601 square feet of built space and 5,169 square feet of additional air rights according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $303 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 Fine Times was Ari Sklar. The signatory for Citibank was Tina Lin.

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 110 West 69th Street.

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Jessica Richman, head officer and Ari Sklar, officer. The business entity is 110 West 69th Street Llc. Out of the four properties, two with a total of 57,601 square feet of built space generated revenue of $1.8 million per year.

The property

The 110 West 69th Street parcel has frontage of 48 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 4,870 square feet. The zoning is R8B which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The property is in the Upper West Side / Central Park West Historic District. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $6.1 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 three DOB violations, $11,705 in ECB penalties, and $11,955 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 Lincoln Square, the majority, or 67 percent of the 30.8 million square feet of commercial built space are residential elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 20 percent of the space. In sales, Lincoln Square has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $255.9 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 30th highest in Manhattan. For development, Lincoln Square has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 312,706 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 1 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 110 West 69th Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the 11 commercial properties representing 123,801 square feet of the 254,663 square feet. The largest owner is Hubb NYC, followed by Brusco Group and then Elizabeth Connors. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 74 percent of the 315,414 square feet of built space are residential elevator buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 20 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Fine Times owned at least 20 commercial properties with 169,522 square feet and a city-determined market value of $76.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $50 million in debt, borrowed from Citibank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 59 percent of the 169,522 square feet of built space are residential walkup properties, with residential elevator properties next occupying 35 percent of the space. The bulk, or 53 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 47 percent of the space.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 110 West 69th Street, PincusCo identified five commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those five items, three were sales above $5 million totaling $91.6 million. The most recent of the three was 3517 Schaefer, LLC which bought the 6,831-square-foot, nine-unit rental (C5) on 73 West 68th Street for $6 million from Aviva Jakubowicz on February 3, 2022.
Of those five items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $45.3 million. The most recent of the two was HUBB NYC which borrowed $12 million from JPMorgan Chase secured by the 12,830-square-foot, 18-unit rental (C7) on 182 Columbus Avenue and one other property on April 6, 2022.

Direct link to Acris document. link