Hercules Argyriou of Mega Contracting pays $8.2M for 213-unit affordable dev site in Tremont

Hercules Argyriou of Mega Contracting Group through the entity 521 Tremont MM LLC paid $8.2 million to the Guarascio family through the entity Matrix Tremont, Inc. for the mixed-use building (K4) at 521 East Tremont Avenue, the retail building (K1) at 513 East Tremont Avenue, and the industrial building (G7) at 1904 Bathgate Avenue in Tremont, Bronx.
On these lots, there is one active new building construction project for a 213-unit, 184,512 square-foot R-2 building. The project was submitted by Mega Contracting Group and filed by Emanuel Kokinakis with plans filed October 10, 2023 and it has not been permitted yet.
The deal closed on April 16, 2024 and was recorded on May 3, 2024. The three properties have 19,455 square feet of built space.
The signatory for Louis Guarascio and Robert Guarascio was Robert Guarascio. The signatory for Mega Contracting Group was attorney Christopher Lacovara. The contract date was April 16, 2024. Hercules Argyriou is the principal of Mega Contracting Group, which is the beneficial owner through 521 Tremont MM LLC, and Argyriou signed the loan documents, but he did not sign the acquisition documents. Louis Guarascio signed as president of the seller organization on a loan in 2015.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Mega Contracting Group had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Louis Guarascio had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The mixed-use building in Tremont has 19,455 square feet of built space and 79,080 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 98,559 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 58 feet and is 64 feet deep with a total lot size of 8,560 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C4-4D which allows for up to 3.4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 6.02 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.5 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 not received any significant violations in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Tremont, The bulk, or 41 percent of the 8.6 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 20 percent of the space. In sales, Tremont has the 18th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in Bronx with $62.1 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Tremont has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 862,618 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 10 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 521 East Tremont Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the 20 commercial properties representing 78,998 square feet of the 185,386 square feet. The largest owner is Monarch, followed by Foxy Management and then Allied Realty & Development.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 405,277 square feet. The largest is a 287-unit, 220,765 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by St. Joseph Catholic Church and filed by Fr. Mike Kissane with plans filed November 2, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 213-unit, 184,512 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Mega Contracting Group and filed by Emanuel Kokinakis with plans filed October 10, 2023 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 40 percent of the 185,386 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Mega Contracting Group owned at least one commercial property with 135 residential units in New York City with 0.0 square feet and a city-determined market value of $546,000. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio consists of at least a single elevator property.