Haven Capital pays $107.4M to Cheskel Schwimmer for three properties in Mott Haven

Haven Capital through the entity Haven Propco I Arches LLC paid $107.4 million to Cheskel Schwimmer and his Chess Builders through the entity Deegan 135 Realty LLC for property at 224-228 East 135th Street in Mott Haven, Bronx, property at 224-228 East 135th Street in Mott Haven, Bronx, and property at 224-228 East 135th Street in Mott Haven, Bronx.
The deal closed on April 28, 2022 and was recorded on May 20, 2022.
The signatory for Cheskel Schwimmer was Cheskel Schwimmer. The signatory for Haven Capital was Marc Gitto. The Real Deal was first to report Haven Capital’s purchase of The Arches. Meridian Capital Group was the brokerage on the deal, according to the report. A sponsored post from Meridian says Chess Builders sold the fee position for $105 million, and that Chess Builders signed a 99-year ground lease as tenant with Haven as the landlord.

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 224-228 East 135th Street.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, Pincusco has records that the buyer Haven Capital purchased one properties in one transactions for a total of $50 million and sold one properties in one transactions for a total of $50.3 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Cheskel Schwimmer had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

PincusCo cannot determine the lot area of the 224-228 East 135th Street parcel at this time.

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 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 $5 million on this tax lot.

The block

On the tax block of 224-228 East 135th Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of 12 of the 16 commercial properties representing 1,281,206 square feet of the 1,428,677 square feet. The largest owner is Cheskel Schwimmer, followed by CubeSmart and then Zar Group. There are five active new building construction projects totaling 1,372,422 square feet. The largest is a 458-unit, 364,274-square-foot R-2 building developed by Dan Berger with plans filed September 3, 2015 and permitted June 9, 2020. The second largest is a 213-unit, 315,859-square-foot R-2 building developed by Cheskel Schwimmer.

The majority, or 66 percent of the 1.4 million square feet of built space are residential elevator buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 20 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Cheskel Schwimmer owned at least 14 commercial properties with 538,374 square feet and a city-determined market value of $46.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $274.1 million in debt, with top three lenders as Prime Group Holdings, Valley National Bank, and IceCap Group respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 90 percent of the 538,374 square feet of built space are residential elevator properties, with residential walkup properties next occupying 10 percent of the space. The bulk, or 58 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Brooklyn next at 42 percent of the space.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 224-228 East 135th Street, PincusCo identified five commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those five items, two were in new building development. There were two new building permits. The most recent of these two items was a permit on October 26, 2021 for a 129,378-square-foot R-2 building with 124 residential units at 2457 Third Avenue.
Of those five items, one was for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. It was a permit application filed on June 7, 2021 for the $3 million renovation of 55,831-square-foot R-2 building with 55 residential units at 2447 Third Avenue.
Of those five items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $253 million. The most recent of the two was Artimus which borrowed $90 million from Bank Leumi secured by the 0-square-foot development site (V1) on 2457 3rd Avenue and two other properties on September 14, 2021.

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