Gjek Popaj pays $4.7M for potential dev site in Fordham Heights

Gjek Popaj through the entity 299 East Burnside LLC paid $4.7 million to Christos Tsetsekas through the entity Burnside Realty Group LLC for the parking lot at 299 East Burnside Avenue and two adjacent lots, all in Fordham Heights, the Bronx. The expected use is ground up development, but no development plans have been filed.
The property was marketed as a development opportunity.
The deal closed on February 14, 2025 and was recorded on February 21, 2025. The three properties have zero square feet of built space and 41,324 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 41,324 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per buildable square foot is $113 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 Christos Tsetsekas was Christos Tsetsekas. The signatory for Gjek Popaj was Gjek Popaj. The contract date was October 16, 2024.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Gjek Popaj had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Christos Tsetsekas had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 66 feet and is 148 feet deep with a total lot size of 7,860 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R7-1 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 $359,000.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have 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 $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Fordham Heights, The bulk, or 46 percent of the 16.3 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 35 percent of the space. In sales, Fordham Heights has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $121.4 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Fordham Heights has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 779,118 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 5 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 299 East Burnside Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of 14 of the 24 commercial properties representing 297,843 square feet of the 439,266 square feet. The largest owner is Finkelstein Timberger East Real Estate, followed by New York Police Department and then Ved Parkash.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 47,862 square feet. The largest is a 55-unit, 38,300 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Gabriel Blanco and filed by Gabriel Blanco with plans filed June 24, 2019 and permitted June 23, 2022. The second largest is a 13-unit, 9,562 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Alaudin Kolenovic and filed by Alaudin Kolenovic with plans filed April 21, 2023 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 44 percent of the 439,266 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 44 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Christos Tsetsekas owned at least one commercial property with eight residential units in New York City with 8,000 square feet and a city-determined market value of $1.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio consists of at least a single walkup property. It is located in Queens.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Gjek Popaj owned at least three commercial properties with 73 residential units in New York City with 0.0 square feet and a city-determined market value of $651,000. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $29 million in debt, with top three lenders as Wells Fargo, Northeast Community Bank, and Suma Federal Credit Union respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 0 percent of the 0.0 square feet of built space are development properties, with industrial properties next occupying 0 percent of the space.

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