Fred Ohebshalom’s Empire Management signs $30.2M refi for 63-unit rental on UWS

Fred Ohebshalom’s Empire Management through the entity Aquisition America I LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Dime Community Bank valued at $30.2 million for the 63-unit residential elevator building (D3) at 680 West End Avenue in the Upper West Side, Manhattan.
The deal closed on October 19, 2022 and was recorded on November 22, 2022. The prior lender was Santander Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $26 million. The property has 154,800 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $195 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 Empire Management was Fred Ohebshalom. The signatory for Dime Community Bank was Louis Ciniglio.

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Fadil Hodzic, head officer and Steven Kurlander, officer. The business entity is Acquisition America I, Llc. The 154,800-square-foot property generated revenue of $4.1 million or $26 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The 680 West End Avenue parcel has frontage of 129 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 12,775 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R10A which allows for up to 10 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The property is in the Riverside-West End Historic District. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $21.7 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 two DOB violations, $1,250 in ECB 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 block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the 14 commercial properties representing 423,960 square feet of the 759,953 square feet. The largest owner is New York City Housing Authority, followed by Heller Realty and then Brusco Group.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 90,596 square feet. It is a 44-unit, 90,596-square-foot R-2 building developed by Tomer Yogev with plans filed November 27, 2018 and permitted October 2, 2019.

The majority, or 85 percent of the 758,437 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Empire Management owned at least 18 commercial properties in New York City with 613,095 square feet and a city-determined market value of $134.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $198.7 million in debt, with top three lenders as New York Community Bank, Santander Bank, and Dime Community Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 62 percent of the 613,095 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with hotel properties next occupying 21 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

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