HELP USA pays $17M for 195-unit shelter in Mt Eden

HELP USA through the entity Help Inwood Housing Development Fund paid $17 million to Abraham Podolok through the entity J&S Tellerman LLC for the 195-unit homeless shelter development at 1298 Inwood Avenue in Mt Eden, Bronx.
On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a 195-unit, 123,422 square-foot R-1 building. The project was submitted by Court Square Real Estate Partners and filed by David Sjauw with plans filed October 12, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.
The deal closed on September 8, 2023 and was recorded on September 21, 2023. The property has 40,000 square feet of built space and 80,400 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 120,400 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $425 and the price per buildable square foot is $141 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 Abraham Podolok was Abraham Podolok. The signatory for HELP USA was Thomas Hameline. The contract date was August 5, 2021.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer HELP USA had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Abraham Podolok had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The 40,000-square-foot property generated revenue of $543,053 or $14 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 100 feet and is 200 feet deep with a total lot size of 20,000 square feet. The zoning is R8A which allows for up to 6.02 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2.2 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $300 in OATH penalties in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Mt Eden, the majority, or 51 percent of the 10.3 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space. In sales, Mt Eden has the 19th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in Bronx with $79.9 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Mt Eden has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 8th highest in Bronx. It had 875,064 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 9 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 124,190 square feet. The largest is a 195-unit, 123,422 square-foot hotel/dormitory/shelter (R-1) building submitted by Court Square Real Estate Partners and filed by David Sjauw with plans filed October 12, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 768 square-foot mercantile (M) building submitted by Henry Alpert with plans filed June 14, 2016 and permitted July 12, 2017.

The majority, or 59 percent of the 216,881 square feet of built space are industrial buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 32 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that HELP USA owned at least five commercial properties with 265 residential units in New York City with 191,181 square feet and a city-determined market value of $21.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 90 percent of the 191,181 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 10 percent of the space. The bulk, or 57 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Bronx next at 43 percent of the space.

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