Hotelier Maheshchand Ratanji signs contract to buy Hudson Yards hotel that has $8.7M loan

Hotel owner Maheshchand Ratanji through the entity Essence Hotel II LLC signed a contract as buyer to purchase from Jin Sup An through the entity Orchard Lodging LLC the hotel building (H3) at 449 West 36th Street in Hudson Yards, Manhattan. The expected use is cash flowing. No price nor closing date were given in the memorandum of contract.
The memorandum was signed on October 9, 2024 and was recorded on October 22, 2024. The property has 12,340 square feet of built space and 2,518 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 14,863 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data.
The seller bought the property on June 25, 2015, for $15 million. The signatory for Jin Sup An was Jin Sup An. The signatory for Maheshchand Ratanji was Maheshchand Ratanji. The contract date was August 28, 2024. The most recent loan is $8.7 million provided by NewBank in January 2024.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Maheshchand Ratanji purchased a handful of buildings over the past two years.
The seller Jin Sup An purchased two properties in two transactions for a total of $10 million and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The hotel building in Hudson Yards has 12,340 square feet of built space and 2,518 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 14,863 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 98 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,469 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 $3 million. The most recent loan totaled $8.7 million and was provided by NewBank on January 17, 2024.

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 $12,612 in ECB penalties and $13,212 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 Hudson Yards, The majority, or 59 percent of the 16.8 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 22 percent of the space. In sales, Hudson Yards has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $82.7 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Hudson Yards has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 26th highest in Manhattan. It had 1.1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 6 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the 15 commercial properties representing 55,932 square feet of the 350,496 square feet. The two identified owners are Zd Jasper Realty and Jin Sup An.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 128,331 square feet. The largest is a 128-unit, 128,331 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by ZD Jasper Realty and filed by Susan Wu with plans filed February 17, 2023 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 52-unit residential (R-2) building submitted by Tom Wu with plans filed August 1, 2022 and permitted August 30, 2024.

The majority, or 61 percent of the 350,496 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Jin Sup An owned at least three commercial properties with six residential units in New York City with 23,092 square feet and a city-determined market value of $10.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $8.7 million in debt, borrowed from NewBank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 53 percent of the 23,092 square feet of built space are hotel properties, with mixed-use properties next occupying 25 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Maheshchand Ratanji owned at least nine commercial properties in New York City with 299,071 square feet and a city-determined market value of $56.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $25 million in debt, with top three lenders as Rajendra R. Patel, Mamraben R. Patel, and PCSB Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 84 percent of the 299,071 square feet of built space are hotel properties, with development properties next occupying 16 percent of the space. The bulk, or 58 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Manhattan next at 19 percent of the space.

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