Forkosh Development Group signs $65M refi loan with Webster Bank for dorm in Gramercy

Forkosh Development Group through the entity Coral Crystal LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Webster Bank valued at $65 million for the 91-unit hotel building (H8) at 125 Third Avenue in Gramercy, Manhattan, at the corner of 14th Street. This is a New York University dorm building.
The deal closed on March 23, 2023 and was recorded on March 27, 2023. The prior lender was a CMBS Series 2013-GC13 which held debt that had an original loan amount of $60 million.
The property has 113,754 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $571 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 Forkosh Development Group was Alex Forkosh. The signatory for Webster Bank was Anthony Viskovich.

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Alex Forkosh, head officer and David Podolsky, officer. The business entity is Crystal Tower Llc.

The property

The 125 3rd Avenue parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 8,060 square feet. The zoning is C1-9A which allows for up to 2 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 $27.5 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 received $1,250 in ECB penalties and $3,900 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 Gramercy, the bulk, or 31 percent of the 11.3 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 24 percent of the space. In sales, Gramercy has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $221.2 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Gramercy has 1.5 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 19th highest in Manhattan. It had 1.5 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 14 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the 18 commercial properties representing 58,229 square feet of the 479,663 square feet. The largest owner is Yusuf Bildirici, followed by Sky Management and then Flatiron Real Estate Advisors.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 52 percent of the 479,663 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 26 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Forkosh Development Group owned at least four commercial properties in New York City with 142,978 square feet and a city-determined market value of $25.2 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $144 million in debt, with top three lenders as Sovcombank, PCCP, and Madison Realty Capital respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 88 percent of the 142,978 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with industrial properties next occupying 12 percent of the space. The bulk, or 88 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 12 percent of the space.

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