Hao Li in contract to pay $9.2M for 19K sf Murray Hill commercial property

Hao Li, an investor with an address in Forest Hills, Queens, is in contract to pay $9.22 million for a Murray Hill commercial property, 281-283 Lexington Avenue. The contract was dated December 2020, but was disclosed in a court filing, seeking permission to sell the property, owned by a nonprofit, Soldiers’, Sailors’, Marines’ and Airmen’s Club, Inc.

The property

The property in Murray Hill has 19,440 square feet of built space and 21,379 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 40,800 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The 283 Lexington Avenue parcel has frontage of 51 feet and is 80 feet deep with a total lot size of 4,080 square feet. The zoning is R10 which allows for up to 10 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.7 million.

Development

Over the past five years, there has been no NYC Department of Buildings new building, demolition, or alteration permit application valued at more than $20,000 filed for this parcel.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received seven housing violations and $75 in OATH penalties in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

The neighborhood

In Murray Hill, the majority, or 57 percent of the 11.6 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with office buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, Murray Hill has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $1.1 billion in sales volume in the last two years and is the 14th highest in Manhattan. For development, Murray Hill has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 34th highest in Manhattan. It had 284,267 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 2 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of seven of the 35 commercial properties representing 286,885 square feet of the 417,337 square feet. The largest owner is Townhouse Management Company, followed by Stonehenge NYC and then Solil Management. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The owner

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes William McShane, head officer and Hazel Cathers, officer. The business entity is Soldiers’,Sailors’,Marines’And Airmen’S.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 283 Lexington Avenue, Pincusco identified 10 commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those 10 items, four were sales above $5 million totaling $147.2 million. The most recent of the four was Sonesta International Hotels which bought the 179,142-square-foot, three-unit hotel (HB) on 303 Lexington Avenue for $89.8 million from Denihan Hospitality Group on May 6, 2022. Of those 10 items, six were loans above $5 million totaling $614.8 million. The most recent of the six was Murray Hill Mews Owners Cooperative which borrowed $16.5 million from Berkadia Commercial Mortgage secured by the 329,706-square-foot, 272-unit co-op (D4) on 560 3rd Avenue on May 27, 2022.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.