Gilbane Inc. signs $4.9M lease with NYCHA, borrows $445.9M for renovations

Gilbane Inc. through the entity Manhattanville Owner LLC signed a 99-year ground lease valued at $4.9 million with the New York City Housing Authority for the 1,272-unit residential (D3) building complex at 1470 Amsterdam Avenue in Harlem, Manhattan. At the same time, Gilbane borrowed $445.9 million. The expected use is cash flowing.
The deal closed on December 12, 2024 and was recorded on January 10, 2025. The property has 1,291,359 square feet of built space and 507,082 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 1,798,311 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $three and the price per buildable square foot is $two 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 New York City Housing Authority was Jonathan Gouveia. The signatory for Gilbane Inc. was Yarojin Robinson. This is a 99-year ground lease under the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together PACT Manhattanville agreement. Gilbane, alone with minority-owned Apex Building Group and the nonprofit organization West Harlem Group Assistance, won the agreement in 2023. The agreement notes, “ELH Mgmt. LLC will serve as the day-to-day property manager when the property converts to Project-Based Section 8.”

The $445.9 million loan is composed of $335.5 million and $27.8 million from Merchants Capital and $82.6 million from NYCHA.

Prior sales and revenue

The seller New York City Housing Authority purchased 10 properties in two transactions for a total of $151.5 million and leased 216 properties in eight transactions for a total of $358.5 million over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes David Chin, head officer and Dimitri Naylor, officer.

The property

The residential elevator building with 1,272 residential units in Harlem has 1,291,359 square feet of built space and 507,082 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 1,798,311 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 754 feet and is 419 feet deep with a total lot size of 522,765 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R7-2 which allows for up to 3.44 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $110.3 million.

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 one DOB violation, $3,750 in ECB penalties, 23 housing violations, and $4,000 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 six of the six commercial properties representing 1,367,533 square feet of the 1,367,533 square feet. The largest owner is Cityscapes Realty, followed by NYC Department Of Education and then Artimus.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 409,961 square feet. It is a 393-unit, 409,961 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Grid Group and filed by Yiannes Einhorn with plans filed December 17, 2021 and permitted February 7, 2024.

The majority, or 94 percent of the 1.4 million square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 6 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that New York City Housing Authority owned at least 559 commercial properties with 162,276 residential units in New York City with 135,302,830 square feet and a city-determined market value of $11.5 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $79.3 million in debt, borrowed from Breaking Ground. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 96 percent of the 135,302,830 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 3 percent of the space. The bulk, or 34 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 31 percent of the space.

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