Grid Group, Cityscapes Realty pay $6M to NYCHA for Harlem site where 393-unit project planned

Grid Group and Cityscapes Realty through the entity 1440 Residential LLC paid $6 million to the New York City Housing Authority for the development site (V1) at 1440 Amsterdam Avenue in Harlem, Manhattan, composed of seven tax parcels.
The deal closed on October 13, 2022 and was recorded on October 25, 2022.
The signatory for Grid Group and Cityscapes Realty was Yiannes Einhorn and Spyridon Papakonstadinou.
On this site, there is a 393-unit, 409,961-square-foot residential (R-2) building project submitted by Yiannes Einhorn with plans filed December 17, 2021 and it has not been permitted yet.

Because multiple properties have been transacted, some of the following sections will follow the property with the largest assessed value, which in this case, is the property on N/A Amsterdam Avenue.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, Pincusco has records that the buyer Grid Group purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $31 million and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $11.4 million over the past 24 months.
The seller New York City Housing Authority had not purchased any other properties and executed two sale or lease transactions for a total value of $93 million over the same time period.

The property

The N/A Amsterdam Avenue parcel has frontage of 754 feet and is 419 feet deep with a total lot size of 534,775 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 $103.3 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received eight DOB violations, $4,687 in ECB penalties, and $5,912 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On these lots, there are two active new building construction projects and major alteration projects with initial costs more than $5 million, totaling 469,214 square feet. The largest is a new building project for a 51-unit, 59,253 square-foot R-2 building developed by Athena Vrettos with plans filed October 14, 2014 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a new building project for a 393-unit, 409,961 square-foot R-2 building developed by Yiannes Einhorn with plans filed December 17, 2021 and it has not been permitted yet.

The block

On the tax block of N/A Amsterdam Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the four commercial properties representing 1,367,533 square feet of the 1,367,533 square feet. The two identified owners are New York City Housing Authority and City of New York.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 469,214 square feet. The largest is a 51-unit, 59,253-square-foot R-2 building developed by Athena Vrettos with plans filed October 14, 2014 and permitted August 24, 2015. The second largest is a 393-unit, 409,961-square-foot R-2 building developed by Yiannes Einhorn with plans filed December 17, 2021 and it has not been permitted yet.

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 691 commercial properties in New York City with 143,584,992 square feet and a city-determined market value of $10.9 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $314.1 million in debt, borrowed from NYS Housing Finance Agency and Breaking Ground. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 95 percent of the 143,584,992 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 5 percent of the space. The bulk, or 33 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 31 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Grid Group owned at least two commercial properties in New York City with 79,815 square feet and a city-determined market value of $16.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $70.5 million in debt, with top three lenders as Northwind Group, First Republic Bank, and Midfirst Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 79 percent of the 79,815 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with industrial properties next occupying 21 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Cityscapes Realty owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 86,988 square feet and a city-determined market value of $6.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $5 million in debt, borrowed from First Republic Bank. The portfolio consists of at least a single elevator property. It is located in Queens.

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