Firebird Grove pays $7.8M to Michael Forrest for 16-unit walkup in Lower East Side

Firebird Grove through the entity 164 Ludlow, LLC paid $7.8 million to Ludlow Property Group through the entity Ddcm 164 Ludlow LLC for the 16-unit residential walkup building (C7) at 164 Ludlow Street in Lower East Side, Manhattan. The expected use is cash flowing.
The deal closed on October 8, 2024 and was recorded on October 10, 2024. The property has 9,735 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $806 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 seller bought the property on November 25, 2008, for $5.3 million. The signatory for Ludlow Property Group was Edward J. Bullard Jr. The signatory for Firebird Grove was Adam J. Semler. The contract date was September 3, 2024. Forrest Partners still shows the building on its website. Forrest Partners changed its name to Ludlow Property Group in 2023. Michael Forrest leads Ludlow Property Group,  which has holdings in New York City and Colorado.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Firebird Grove purchased two properties in two transactions for a total of $11.5 million and sold two properties in two transactions for a total of $6.1 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Ludlow Property Group 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 Michael Forrest, head officer and Alberto Veloz, site manager. The business entity is Ddcm 164 Dudlow Llc.

The property

The residential walkup building with 16 residential units in Lower East Side has 9,735 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 26 feet and is 89 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,327 square feet. The zoning is C4-4A which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 4 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $4.1 million. The most recent loan totaled $5.6 million and was provided by Safra National Bank on February 26, 2020.

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 received two housing violations and $350 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 this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 13 of the 34 commercial properties representing 390,770 square feet of the 554,815 square feet. The largest owner is Edison Properties, followed by BD Hotels and then Tatar Holding.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 243,605 square feet. The largest is a 89-unit, 130,359 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Brandon Miller|Marc Ravner|Benjamin Shaoul|Mark Siegel|Zak* Tendle* and filed by Hesky Haim with plans filed January 4, 2013 and permitted January 12, 2017. The second largest is a 83-unit, 113,246 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Marc Ravner with plans filed November 14, 2014 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 40 percent of the 554,815 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 37 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Firebird Grove owned at least 44 commercial properties with 374 residential units in New York City with 331,361 square feet and a city-determined market value of $152.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $37 million in debt, with top three lenders as Derby Copeland Capital, Bank of America, and Signature Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 57 percent of the 331,361 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with mixed-use properties next occupying 30 percent of the space. The bulk, or 51 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 49 percent of the space.

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