Former Yugoslav republics sell Gilded Age townhouse in Lenox Hill for $50M

A “London-based businessman”‘s Brancaster Holdings Limited through the entity 854 Fifth Acquisition LLC paid $50 million to the Republic of Croatia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of North Macedonia, Republic of Serbia, and Republic of Slovenia for the Gilded Age townhouse (Z4) at 854 Fifth Avenue in Lenox Hill, Manhattan.
The deal closed on September 27, 2022 and was recorded on September 30, 2022. The property has 17,612 square feet of built space and 18,870 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 36,500 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $2,838 and the price per buildable square foot is $1,369 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 Republic of Croatia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of North Macedonia, Republic of Serbia, and Republic of Slovenia was Sven Alkalaj, Ivan Simonivic and others. The signatory for Brancaster Holdings Limited was Chris M. Smith. The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia bought the building from the estate of Emily Vanderbilt White on December 5, 1946, just over one year after the communist country was founded, on November 29, 1945. (Though some versions of the country’s history say it was founded in 1946.) The republic was split up in 1992 following the Yugoslav War, when the five republics that sold it inherited the property. The buyer is a “London-based businessman” according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the sale.

The property

The 854 5th Avenue parcel has frontage of 30 feet and is 120 feet deep with a total lot size of 3,650 square feet. The zoning is R10 which allows for up to 10 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The property is in the Upper East Side Historic District. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $10.1 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 Lenox Hill, the bulk, or 35 percent of the 51.9 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space. In sales, Lenox Hill has the highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $3.3 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Lenox Hill has 1.4 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 19th highest in Manhattan. It had 1.4 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 3 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the 26 commercial properties representing 104,015 square feet of the 262,200 square feet. The largest owner is Campustar Enterprises, followed by Stanley Rintel and then HUBB NYC.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 25 percent of the 238,927 square feet of built space are specialty buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 24 percent of the space.

Direct link to Acris document. link