First-time NYC buyer Sterling Organization pays $14M for industrial in Mott Haven

Palm Beach-based Sterling Organization through the entity Sclp I Bruckner, LLC paid $14 million to Frank Hernandez through the entity La Flor De Mayo Express, Inc. for the industrial building at 307-315 Bruckner Boulevard in Mott Haven, Bronx.
The deal closed on April 11, 2022 and was recorded on April 26, 2022.
The property has 50,000 square feet of built space and 192,545 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 242,500 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $280 and the price per buildable square foot is $57 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 Frank Hernandez was Frank Hernandez. The signatory for Sterling Organization was Gregory S. Moross. Moross is a principal with the Sterling Organization, a private equity firm based in Palm Beach that invests in last-mile logistics assets. According to its website, it is a “private equity real estate firm whose national platform is focused on investing in LAST HOUR® consumer fulfillment and distribution real estate assets.” This is the first purchase in New York City, according to the firm’s website and PincusCo records.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Sterling Organization had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Frank Hernandez had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The 307-315 Bruckner Boulevard parcel has frontage of 245 feet and is 131 feet deep with a total lot size of 48,500 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-3 which allows for up to 5 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2.9 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations 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 Mott Haven, the bulk, or 38 percent of the 43.4 million square feet of commercial built space are residential elevator buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 23 percent of the space. In sales, Mott Haven has 2.7 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $744 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the highest in Bronx. For development, Mott Haven is the 7th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 4.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 10 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

The majority, or 97 percent of the 124,486 square feet of built space are industrial buildings, with retail buildings next occupying 3 percent of the space.

Surrounding

PincusCo has not identified any commercial real estate items of interest within a 400-foot radius of 307-315 Bruckner Boulevard that occurred over the past 24 months.

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