Hee Nam Bae pays $5.5M for two properties in East Harlem

Hee Nam Bae through the entity City Lights Properties LLC paid $5.5 million to Jason Maalouly through the entity Maalouly Realty Corp. for the retail building (K2) at 2148 3rd Avenue in East Harlem, Manhattan and development building (V1) at 183 East 117th Street in East Harlem, Manhattan.
The deal closed on April 25, 2024 and was recorded on May 1, 2024. The two properties have 9,895 square feet of built space and 60,543 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 70,452 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $555 and the price per buildable square foot is $78 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 Jason Maalouly was Jason Maalouly. The contract date was March 21, 2024. Hee Nam Bae is a member of City Lights Properties LLC.

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 2148 3rd Avenue.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Hee Nam Bae had purchased any other properties and sold three properties in three transactions for a total of $51.2 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Jason Maalouly had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The retail building in East Harlem has 9,895 square feet of built space and 60,543 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 70,452 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 47 feet and is 134 feet deep with a total lot size of 6,434 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C4-6 which allows for up to 3.4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.1 million.

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 received $1,055 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 neighborhood

In East Harlem, The majority, or 51 percent of the 52.3 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, East Harlem has 1.4 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $397.7 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 21st highest in Manhattan. For development, East Harlem has 1.4 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 21st highest in Manhattan. It had 1.6 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 3 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 2148 3rd Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of seven of the 19 commercial properties representing 124,274 square feet of the 217,789 square feet. The largest owner is Ross And Ross Llc, followed by Metropolitan Realty Group and then Frank Pecora.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 45 percent of the 217,789 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 42 percent of the space.

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