Highly litigated Heritage Equity dev site in Mott Haven sold for $15M to Sam Rubin

Sam Rubin through the entity 286 Rider Avenue Owner LLC paid $15 million to the entity 286 Rider Ave Acquisition LLC for the vacant parcel (V1) at 286 Rider Avenue in Mott Haven, Bronx. The sellers were investors that paid off a debt of the former owner, Heritage Equity Partners.

On this parcel, there was a new building plan filed for a 105-unit, 97,627 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Heritage Equity Partners and filed by Toby Moskovits with plans filed June 26, 2019.
The sale closed on May 3, 2024 and was recorded on May 20, 2024. The property has a total buildable of 84,308 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $729 and the price per buildable square foot is $177 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.)
Toby Moskovits and Michael Lichtenstein’s Heritage Equity Partners bought the property on September 19, 2019, for $10 million.

The signatory for the seller was William Rothner. The signatory for Sam Rubin was Sam Rubin. The contract date was April 16, 2024.
This property was heavily litigated, including foreclosure and bankruptcy filings. According to PincusCo reporting, investors made an $11.9 million payoff to lender Be-Aviv in January 2022, but the parties continued in litigation after that, until finally resolving the matter.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Sam Rubin purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $5.3 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Heritage Equity Partners had not purchased any other properties and sold or turned over properties in three transactions for a total of $163 million over the same time period.

The property

The development building in Mott Haven has 20,555 square feet of built space and 84,308 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 84,308 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 175 feet and is 110 feet deep with a total lot size of 21,077 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-4/R7A which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing and up to 4 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.4 million. The most recent loan totaled $8 million and was provided by Be-Aviv on September 19, 2019.

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 $1,250 in ECB penalties and $1,850 in OATH penalties in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Mott Haven, The bulk, or 45 percent of the 41.7 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 23 percent of the space. In sales, Mott Haven has 1.3 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $340.4 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the highest in Bronx. For development, Mott Haven has 2 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 2nd highest in Bronx. It had 2.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 5 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the 11 commercial properties representing 182,125 square feet of the 277,829 square feet. The two identified owners are NYC Department Of Education and Heritage Equity Partners.
On the tax block, there were is one new building construction project, for a 105-unit, 97,627 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Heritage Equity Partners and filed by Toby Moskovits with plans filed June 26, 2019 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 58 percent of the 277,829 square feet of built space are specialty buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 26 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Sam Rubin owned at least nine commercial properties with 119 residential units in New York City with 118,913 square feet and a city-determined market value of $19 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $100.7 million in debt, with top three lenders as Popular Bank, First Republic Bank, and Bethpage Federal Credit Union respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 49 percent of the 118,913 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 39 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

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